7^y 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



3 gy 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




(DAFT A\oGi]o[i3®(DA[Effi)[lJ©, 

■CHAMPION WING S HOT" F AM ER i C 



Mil cfifE, m IMP loom. 



CAPTAIN A. H. BOaAKDUS, 
« I 

Champion Wing Shot of the World. 



EMBRACING 

HINTS FOR SKILLED MARKSMEN ; INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUNG 

SPORTSMEN ; HAUNTS AND HABITS OF GAME BIRDS ; 

FLIGHT AND RESORTS OF WATER FOWL ; 

BREEDING AND BREAKING OF DOGS, 

ETC., ETC. 



WITH AN APPENDIX, 



CONTAINING 



THE RULES OF TRAP-SHOOTING. 




THIRD EDITION, REVISED TO DATE. 



NEW YORK: 

FOREST & STREAM PUBLISHING CO, 
1891. 






Copyright, 1891, by 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 



TO 



THE SPORTSMEN OF AMERICA 



THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED 



BY THE AUTHOR, 



CONTENTS. 



Preface by the Editor, ...••••• ^-^ 

CHAPTER I. 

General Introductory Remarks. 

Great Increase of Field Shooting— Delights of the Sport— Expe^ 
rience in the Field— Beginning in Albany County, New York, at 
Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock— Removal to Sangamon River, Illi- 
nois—Great Abundance of Game— Numerous Deer— Removal to 
Elkhart, Logan County— Vast Numbers of Pinnated Grouse— 
Gillott's Grove— Osage Orange Hedges and Quail— Pinnated 
Grouse shot too early— Diminution of Breeding Places— Migration 
of the Grouse late in Fall— Ducks and Geese in Com-Fields 
—Nesting Places of Grouse and of Quail— Evil of Prairie- 
Burning late in Spring— Snipe, Golden Plover, and Upland Plover 
—The American Hare or Rabbit— Hawks after Game -The Win- 
nebago Swamp Breeding-place of Ducks and Crane— Wolves in 
the Swamp— A Wolf-Hunt in Gillott's Grove— Eagles and Foxes, 
etc., 15-37 



CHAPTER II. 

GiTNs AND Their Proper Charges. 

Skill and Ingenuity of Gunmakers— Improvements and Inventions 
of Late Years— Vast Advantage from the Breech-Loader— Safest 
and best of Guns— Metallic Cartridge-Cases— Size of Guns— Advan- 
tage of Weight— The Suitable Stock— Proper Filling of Cartridges- 
Trials of Guns— Loading of Cartridges— Quantity of Powder— Sizes 
of Shot for DiflFerent Game— Dead-Shot Powder— Disadvantage of 
very Large Shot, 38-52 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 
Pinnated Grouse Shooting. 



ilbundance in the Prairie States— Of Service to the Farmer- 
Grouse Polygamous— Booing' of the Cocks in Spring— Nesting- 
time and Nests— Rapid Growth of the Young Birds— Supposed 
Hybrids— Grouse Shooting in August too Early— The Easiest 
there is — The Com-Fields the only Protection— Grouse found at 
Morning in Stubbles— In Clear Weather no Shooting in the 
Middle of the Day— On Damp, Cloudy Days Grouse in Stubbles 
all Day— On Clear Days Shoot again towards Evening— Grouse 
in Pasture-Land— Shooting in McLean County— Beware of Shoot- 
ing too Quick— Mr. Sullivant's Great Farm— Water for Men and 
Dogs must be Carried, 55-71 



CHAPTER IV. 

Late Pinnated Grouse Shooting, 

The Middle of the Day the best Time— Good Shooting in Corn after 
the Frosts— Wheat Sowed in Corn-Fields— No Shooting on Cloudy 
Days— November Shooting Best— Grouse in Sod Corn— A Day in 
Champagne County— Grouse wiH not Lie on Damp, Cloudy Days 
—Indian Summer a Good Time— The Prairies in Spring— On 
Bright Mornings in Winter — Scene near Chatsworth, Iroquois 
County, on a December Morning— Necessity of Silence in Late 
Grouse Shooting— A Trip to Christian County, . . . 72-88 

CHAPTER V. 

Quail Shooting in the West. 

Abundance of Quail in the Western States — Increase in the Prairie 
States — Osage Orange Hedges a Great Cause — Afford Nesting 
Places, Protect from Hawks, and Shelter in Severe Weather- 
Nesting Places and Nests— The Quail Hawk— Beginning of the 
Shooting — Best Shooting after the Frosts in November and De- 
cember—Up at Early Morning— Fine, Clear Days Best— Lie well 
when Scattered— Pack late in Fall— Run in Damp and Wet 
Weather— Netting now Unlawful— Quail Shooting on Salt Creek, 
Sangamon River— Quail not Difficult to Shoot— Missed through 
Haste— Shooting on Shoal Creek, Missouri— Quail in Hedges- 
Quail in the South 89-106 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER VI, 
Ruffed Grouse Shooting. 



Distribution and Habits of the Birds— Found in Wild, Lonely 
Places— Favorite Food of Ruffed Grouse— Beauty and Pride of 
the Bird— The Drumming of the Male— Deceptiveness of the 
Sound — Macdonald's Drummer-Boy — Much Drumming Before 
Rain— Nest of the Ruffed Grouse— The Young on the Cass River. 
Michigan— "Wolves at the Camp on the Cass— The Chippewa 
Indians— Wildness of Ruffed Grouse— The First I ever Shot- 
Ruffed Grouse hard to Shoot Flying— Goes for Densest Part of 
the Thicket— May be Shot over Setters, .... 107-130 



CHAPTER VII. 

Shooting the Woodcock. 

Arrival in Spring— The Breeding Season— Nest of the Woodcock — 
A Woodcock in Confinement — Voracity in Feeding— Young Full 
Grown in July— Solitary Birds after Separation of Brood— Noc- 
turnal in Habit— Supposed Second Migration— Laboring Flight in 
Summer — Difficult to shoot— Density of Foliage— Snap Shooting- 
Swift and Twisting Flight in Autumn— Bottom t and Islands of 
the Mississippi River— Woodcock on the Illinois River— Scarcer 
in general in the West than in the Atlantic States— Fall Wood- 
cock Shooting, 121-132 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Snipe and Snipe Shooting. 

Breeds North of Virginia, but only sparsely in the United States- 
Arrives at Columbus, Kentucky, early in March — Never appears 
before the Frost out of Ground — Nearly a Month Later in Illinois 
than in Kentucky — The Spring Shooting Best — Snipe Wild at 
First Arrival— Get Fat and Lazy— Snipe Shooting on the Sanga- 
mon— Snipe very Abundant in the West— Should be Beat for 
Down- Wind— No Need for Dog on Good Snipe Ground — Difficult 
to Shoot in Corn-Fields— Shooting on the Bottoms— Easy to Kill 
when Fat— A Proposed Match— In Snipe Shooting much Walking 
Required— Snipe Shooting along Sloughs and Swales— Hovering of 
Snip«— The FaU Snipe Shooting 188-148 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 
Golden Plover, Curlew, Gray Plover. 
Arrival of Golden Plover and Curlew— First Seen on Burnt Prairies 
—Plover like Bare Earth and Pastures— Golden Plover and Cur- 
lew in Flocks Together— They Follow the Plough— Lying Down 
for Plover— Plover Shooting from a Buggy— The Method of It- 
How to Shoot Plover on Foot— Plover Circle Round the Wounded 
—An Afternoon's Shooting near Elkhart— Plover Shooting in 
Christian County— Golden Plover Scattered— Fast Flyers and 
Good Practice— The Upland or Gray Plover— Last of Spring 
Migrants— Breeds in Illinois, Iowa, etc.— Ready to Pair when It 
Arrives -Should not be Shot in the Spring— Nest of the Upland 
Plover— Difficult to Shoot in Autumn — Horse and Buggy Needed 
—Flight of Upland Plover— Sand Snipe and Grass Snipe, . 149-167 

CHAPTER X. 

Wild Ducks and Western Duck Shooting. 

The Prime Western Ducks— Beauty of the Wood Duck- Its Rapid 
Flight— The Mallard— Its Excellence and Beauty— Comparison 
with Canvas-Back— Mallards' Nests— The Flappers— Ducks begin 
to Arrive by Middle of February— Habits of Mallards and Pintails 
—Their Vast Numbers— Remain Four or Five Weeks— Coming of 
Ducks in the Fall— Vast Numbers— When Cold Sets In— Heard 
in the Air all Night— Duck Shooting in the Corn-Fields— Color of 
Clothes Important— Ducks TVary and Far-Sighted— Miethod of 
Shooting, 168-18Ji 

CHAPTER XI. 
Ducks and Western Duck Shooting. 

Cold Work in Hard Weather— The Illinois River— The Western 
Corn-Fields— Shooting in Them in Fall— Osage Orange Hedges- 
Flight of Ducks in Wet, Windy Weather— In Clear Weather- 
Ducks in Flight seem Nearer than They Are— Shooting at Prairie 
Ponds and Sloughs— Live Decoys Best— Dead Duck Decoys bet- 
ter than Wooden— Method of Setting Dead Mallards as Decoys- 
Duck Shooting in the Winnebago Swamp— Duck Shooting in Ford 
County— Mr. M. SuUivant's Great Farm— Duck Shooting on the 
Sangamon— Shooting from the Timber— Ninety-five Mallards with 
No. 9 Shot — Water Fowl Seek Timber in Hard, Vindy 
Weather, 18»-19r 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Wild Geese, Cranes, and Swans. 

The Canada Goose and Brant Goose— Mexican Geese— Hutchinson'a 
Goose— The White-Fronted Goose — The iSnow Goose— Migration 
of Wild Geese— Flight of Wild Geese— Habits of the Geese- Fir-st 
of the Spring Migrants — Geese on Pasture-Lands — The Best 
Shooting Places— Means of Concealment— Shooting on the Pas- 
tures from a Buggy— Long Shots at Geese— The Fall Geese— In 
Wheat-Fields and Shocked Com— The Roosting Places— Times 
when Geese Resort to Timber— A Flock on the Ice— Getting into 
the River— The Ague, and a Remedy — Shooting Brant and Mexican 
Geese — Great Packs of Mexican Geese— The Cranes of the West 
—The Sand-Hill Crane— Its High Flight in Spring— Feeding on 
Corn in Fall— The Large White Crane— Wounded Cranes Fight 
Hard — Flesh of Cranes when Hung — Pelicans and Swans on the 
Mississippi, 198-223 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Wild Turkey and Deer Shooting. 

■^sxcellence and Beauty of the Wild Turkey— Its Haunts and Habits 
—Methods of Shooting Turkeys— The Wild Turkey's Nest— ^Track- 
ing Turkeys in Snow— Shooting in Thick Snow-Storms— Shooting at 
Crossing Places — Tracking Turkeys on the Sangamon — Lost in 
the Timber— A Walk Home of Thirteen Miles— The Great Gobbler 
of the Sangamon— Turkey Shooting on Shoal Creek— The Cold 
Nights in Camp— Eleven Turkeys to One Gun in Half a Day — 
After a Wounded Deer— Camping Out without a Tent— A Heavy 
Thunder-Storm on Delavan Prairie— Deer Shooting in the West- 
Haunts and Habits— My First Deer— Deer Shooting on Horse- 
back 23:3-250 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Art of Shooting on the Wing. 

The Art Easily Acquired— Boys Should begin to Shoot Early— No 
Danger of Accidents — Loading Guns — Large Shot and Too Much 
Shot Mischievous — Guns for Boys— Handling the Gun — Loading 
the Gun— Light Loads at First— Shooting at a Target— No Shoot- 
ing at Sitting Birds— Shooting Larks and Blackbirds— How to 
Aim— Shooting at Toung Grouse— The Causes of Missing— How to 
Aim at Crossing Birds- Long Shots— The Shot Towers at New 
York 251-275 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

* Sporting Dogs— Breeding and Breaking, 

Setters and Pointers— Advantages and Drawbacks of Each—The 
Sharpness of Prairie Grass— L'oekle-Burrs in Setters' Coats— Set- 
ters Retrieve Well in Water— Cross-Bred Dogs— How to Breed 
Them— Their Stoutness in the Field— No Timid Dogs Among 
Them— History of Fanny, Daughter of a Pointer Dog and Setter 
Bitch— An English Pointer not to be Called Off- He Points at 
Grouse all Night— Best Age for Breaking Dogs— Method of Break- 
ing — The Setter, Jack— Dick, Son of a Pointer Dog and Setter 
Bitch— Miles Johnson as a Breaker, 276-299 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Pigeon Shooting. 

My Beginning at Pigeons— Match against Staunton — Against A. 
Kleinman— Championship of Illinois— Match to Shoot from Buggy 
—Match at Five Hundred— Match to Kill One Hundred Consecu- 
tively — Match against Mr. King— Match against Doxie— Sweep- 
stakes at Chicago— Match against J. Kleinman— Match with Ira 
Paine— Championship and Other Matches— Matches with A. 
Kleinman — Match against Four Marksmen — Advice to Members 
of Shooting Club— Suggestion for New Rule— H and T Traps- 
Scores of Championship Matches — Scores of Exhibition and Other 
Matches, 300-325 



APPENDIX. 

Favorable Reception of *^ Field, Cover, and Trap-Shoofing "—Match 
with Paine— Trip to England— Kind Reception there— Match with 
Mr. Fowler— Match with Mr. George Bimell— Match with Shaw- 
Letter from Mr. Harris, the famous London gun-maker— A Trip 
to California— Great Matches at Glass Balls— Hints on Dogs and 
Dog-Breaking— A Chat with Sportsmen- Best Scores on Record 
the World over— How Guns are Made— The Rules of Trap-Shoot- 
ing, 326-494 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITIOJ!^. 



The generous reception accorded "Field, Cover, 
and Trap-Shooting " upon its appearance ; the many 
encomiums showered upon the work by press and 
public ; the numerous compliments that the author 
has received regarding its value, both to the be- 
ginner and to the expert — all tliese combined, to- 
gether with various other reasons which it would 
be superfluous to mention, have induced Captain 
Bogardus to issue a third and more complete edi- 
tion of the book, and it is universally acknowl- 
edged that no one is better qualified, on account 
not only of his long experience both in field and 
trap-shooting, but also on account of the wonderful 
successes he has attained in both of these branches 
of the use of the shotgun. It will be noticed that 
the work is like the man — strong, vigorous, and, 
what is of far more value, thoroughly trustworthy. 

To this third edition has been added such ma- 
terial as makes the work truly modern in every 
respect. 



1 4 PREFACE. 

Since presenting " Field, Cover, and Trap-Shoot- 
ing" to his friends, Captain Bogardus has entered 
upon liis sixth decade, and feels, after his long life 
before the public of both hemispheres, tliat he is 
justified in retiring from shooting matches. He has 
Avon all championship matches in which he has con- 
tested, though he now retires from the field. This, 
however, is no case of " The king is dead ; long 
live the king ! " for the champion retained liis title 
to the end of the time that he remained in the 
lists, defying the world to pick up his gamitlet, 
and, with his " blushing honors thick upon him," 
covered with medals, bearing cups won on many a 
smoke-crowned field amidst the plaudits of the 
admiring spectators, he made his bow to his dis- 
comfited adversaries, who acknowledged that they 
had been honorably and chivalrously defeated, and 
that the champion had fought for the honors he 
had acquired against obstacles that would have dis- 
heartened a less skilful and confident competitor. 

New Yokk, 1890, 



Field, Cover, and Trap Shooting. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Within a comparatively recent period the num- 
bers of those who follow the delightful and healthful 
sports of the field have increased almost beyond 
calculation in this country, and they are still ra- 
pidly augmenting. Among all those sports there 
is none so easy of attainment, and certainly none 
so invigorating, useful, and enjoyable, as the pur- 
suit of game-birds, waterfowl, etc., over dogs, or, at 
flight time, in the neighborhood of the haunts of 
the latter. The vast extent and variety of our 
territory — woodland interspersed among prairie, pas- 
ture, and cultivated farms — the great abundance of 
game to be met with by those who know when 
and where to seek for it, and the many kinds to 
be found in these favorite haunts at the proper 
seasons, afford such excellent and varied shooting as 

may hardly be experienced if sought for anywhere 
15 



16 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



else. The art of shooting swift-flying birds on the 
wing is of comparatively recent origin in this 
country. Years ago but few people followed it, 
and th<'y liad mostly acquired their skill in Europe 
before they came here. The quickness and art 
necessary for e^en modei-atc success were almost 
comparatively unknown in the regions where such 
game most abounded, and they were in a great 
measure deemed worthless, of no more practical 
use than the curious tricks of a juggler. This was 
not unnatural. The backwoodsmen, and those set- 
tlers who had made lodgments in the immense 
prairies of the Western States, could kill a buck 
with the rifle, ov knock over a fat turkey with the 
same arm ; and those who had old-flishioned smooth- 
bores seldom shot with anything less than buck- 
shot, or the largest sizes of other shot. Hence 
they looked with a sort of lazy curiosity akin to 
contempt upon tlio doings of the men who, with 
good guns and small shot, killed " little birds," as 
quail, plover, woodcock, snipe, etc., were denomi- 
nated. The use of the setter and pointer was 
practically unknown. The game was« considered 
to be a trifling matter, not worth the powder and 
shot expended upon it. The latter were somewhat 
dear, and money was very scarce. The hunters 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 17 

and Indians called the shot-gun l)y the derisive term 
" squaw gun," and wondered that grown men should 
delio:ht in its use. All that is now (jreatlv chanijed. 
Thousands every year enjoy sport of tlu' liighest 
order, and fdl their T)ags in the most ai'tistic man- 
ner, in many parts of the country where shooting 
on the wing was formerly unknown. Shooting of 
this sort once enjoyed is never willingly relincjuislied 
altogether. Those wlio are aide to aftbrd tlie cost 
and spare the time from their avocations in the 
great cities impatiently count the days wliich must 
intervene hefore the time comes for them to jump 
aboard the train with their guns and tlieii- sportiug 
paraphernalia, hound to the shooting-grounds — the 
places where game is to be found in abundance. 
Arrived in these sections, and meeting with old 
friends, the harassed and weak grow vigorous again, 
and the strong beconu' stronger. The consciousness 
of skill, the confidence begotten of success, give such 
a spring to the mind and nerves, and inflame the 
ardor of pursuit to such a degree, that the fatigues 
of the excursion are scarcely perceived, and its 
privations, if such they may be called, are laughed 
at and merrily endured till speedily forgotten. The 
habits of the various kinds of ganie are a subject 
of great interest and observation, The fine and 



18 FIELD SHOOTING. 

eager instinct of the clogs, their great sagacity, en 
durance, and patience, are remarked with pride and 
admiration. The features of the varied landscapes 
— hill <niid vale, Avoodhmd and riverside, vast prairies 
with groves and fringes of timl)er on the branches 
of winding and meandering streams, broad fields of 
land, now in pasture, now covered with brown 
stubble, now waved over by the green flags of the 
corn, tall, strong, and a place of refuge for quail, 
grouse, etc. — afford constant pleasure to the sports- 
man. And after the labors and sports of the day 
are done, tlie camp-fire beneath the trees, on the 
banks of a stream or the margin of a little lake, is 
a place of calm recreation and repose. You may 
hear the call of the night-birds, and the low, sup- 
pressed noises of the npctui'nal animals afoot after 
their prey, but neither the hoot of the owl nor the 
howl of the wolf \Aill drive sluml>er from the 
pillow of brush ii])ou ^^hi(•h }-on rest. The night 
brings enjoyment almost as pleasant as that which 
was the recompense of the exertions of the day. 

Having followed shooting since I was fifteen, 
mostly all through the different seasons, and some- 
times camped out as much as three months at a 
time, never sleeping in a house during that period, 
I believe 1 have a sound and extensive practical 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. ^9 

knowledge of tlie matters upon which this book 
is to treat. I am no scientific naturalist, and what 
I know has not been derived from books. I cannot 
give the Latin names of birds of game, waterfow^l, 
snipe, woodcock, etc., and if I could you would not 
care about them, because the constant repetition 
of them makes no impression at all upon the 
sportsman. To him the quail is simply a quail, 
the pinnated grouse (commonly called prairie 
chicken) is a grouse, and no Latin is required 
to make him understand what you mean by a 
snipe or a woodcock. I cannot set doMni the sci- 
entific names by which naturalists distinguish the 
birds of which I shall treat, but I know their 
haunts and habits, and I can tell you when and 
where to seek them, and how to kill them in a 
sportsmanlike and satisfactory manner. 

I was born in Albany County, New York, and 
began to shoot at fifteen years of age. I was then 
a tall, strong lad, and have since grown into a 
large, powerful, sinewy, and muscular man. I 
have always enjoyed fine health, had great strength 
and endurance, and been capable of much exertion 
and exposure. When I began t(^ shoot, there was 
a good de.^1 of game in Albany County, and it 
chiefly consisted of ruffed grouse and woodcock, 



30 FIELD SHOOTING. 

which are difficult birds for young beginners. ' 1 
received no instructions from anybody, but I pos- 
sessed a ((uiek. true eye, and steady nerve, and 
had, as I believe, the natural gifts which enable a 
man to become in time, with |>ro|>ei' o|)})ortTniity, 
a first-rate field shot. It was a long time after 
that ])efore 1 ever shot at a pigeon from a trap, 
and 1 confess that 1 ]ia<l fot- many years a strong 
prejudice against tliat sort of sliooting. Theiv 
were no (piail. sni]>e. <»r ducks about All)any 
County at that time, and it was not until 1 re- 
moved to the West that 1 became fanuliaf with 
them and with the pinnated grouse. In the Fall 
of 1856 1 moved to Illinois, and settled on the 
Sangamon River, near Petersburg. It was more 
a broken, swampy country, with much cover, than 
a prairie land like that to the northwards in the 
State. (Tame of all s(jrts Mas in vast abundance. 
There were vast numbers of (juail ; the pinnated 
grouse were rather numerous, though nothing like 
as much so as upon some of the great prairies; 
ducks and geese came in immense flocks every 
spring and fall, and deer and turkeys abounded. 
It was, too, and is to this day, one of the best 
places for snipe that 1 know of. It was a para- 
dise for a sportsman ; and as for the snipe and 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 21 

quail, then' was hardly a uiaii there wlm could 
kill them exeept iiivself. Lots of men used to 
go out to see lue shout. There was one, a great 
hunter of deer and turkeys, with whom I heeame 
very intimate. At first he laughed at me when 
he saw me loading with Xo. S shot. •• That wunt 
kill nothin". stranger,"' said he. •• What little 1 
do at (juail T do Avith Xo. 1 shot, and for 
prairie chicken T always nse BBs. You can't stop 
'em with anything lighter." 

But he ('hanged his opinion when he foiuid hy 
experience that I could kill ten to his one, and then 
it was the old story of the fox and grapes. '^ Darn 
the little creatures, I say ! "' he exclaimed ; " 1 
got no nse for 'em anyhow ! " At that time 1 
used to stint myself in quail-shooting time to 
twenty -five brace a day. When I had got them, I 
gave over for the day. Often when I was shoot- 
ing quail in the oak barrens two or three deer 
have got np close to me. 1 shot some turkeys ; 
but my bag Avas mostly made up of quail and 
pinnated grouse in the fall, and of snipe in the 
spring. There were snipe in the fall too, but not 
so many. Ducks and geese were plentifiil in the 
fall and spring, but I did not go after them much 
at that time. I had no wagon and team, and a 



}i2 FIELD SHOOTING. 

bunch of ducks and geese is very heavy to carry. 
The country about the Sangamon was Avild and 
very sparsely settled. Even now it has no large 
population, and remains a great resort for ducks 
and geese, a fine place for snipe, and the quail 
still abound. There was a fine variety of ducks. 
The bag would include mallards, bluebills, pin- 
tails, green-winged teal and blue-winged teal, with 
some wood-ducks. I consider the mallard the best 
duck we have in the AVest, and I doubt very much 
whether there is any better anywhere else. A 
great deal is said about the canvas-back, and 
with justice ; but 1 do not think them any better 
eating than mallards are in the tall of the year, 
when they come on large and fat and glorious in 
plumage from the wild rice-fields of the north- 
west, away in the British territories. 

After staying on the Sangamon about two years 
J moved to Elkhart, in Logan County, where I 
have lived ever since. It is in the heart of the 
State of Illinois, a hundred and sixty -six miles 
south of Chicago, eighteen miles northwest of 
Springfield, and one hundred and fifteen miles from 
St. Louis. It was then a grand place for game, 
and is very good now late in the fall, M'hen the 
pinnated grouse pack and partially migrate. Fif- 







CAPT. A. H. BOGARDUS AND SONS. 
Peter. A. H. Bogardus, Jr. Edward. 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 25 

teen years ago the prairies there were but sparsely 
settled, and not one acre in a thousand had been 
broken up. The grouse were in immense num- 
bers ; the quail, though, were not as plentiful as 
on the Sangamon in the brushy land of the oak 
barrens. There was, however, and is now, a grove 
of timber six hundred acres in extent, not far from 
the town. It is one of the finest in the State, and 
in it and on its borders there were many quail. 
This grove was then owned and still belongs to 
Mr. John D^ Gillot. He has a great stock-farm, 
his pasture-land running for seven miles at a 
stretch. Being a man of great enterprise, as well 
as large means, he planted hedges all over this 
estate. They have now grown up, and, affording 
harbor and nesting-places for the quail, the latter 
are now more plentiful in that neighborhood than 
they were when I first went to live there. At 
that time very few in those parts used the double- 
barrelled gun, and shot over dogs. I was about 
the only one who followed shooting systematically 
and thoroughly. But though the quail in that 
neighborhood are now very abundant, they are 
hard to kill. The corn grows very tall, and as 
soon as a bevy is flushed away they go for the 
corn-fields. Once in them, with the stalks stand- 



26 FIELD-SHOOTING, 

ing thick and high above your head, you can 
only kill birds by snap shots such as you make 
at woodcock in thick cover. You can find them 
on the stubbles and in the pastures at the right 
time of day, but when you have fired your two 
barrels at them they are oif to the corn. The pin- 
nated grouse lie in the corn and on the borders 
of it a good deal too. There was no trouble in 
killing a great number when I first went there. 
I have known sixty young ones to be killed in a 
morning in one field, not more than a quarter of 
a mile from Elkhart. For my part. I am very 
much opposed to such doings. The commence- 
ment of the shooting season ought to be fixed by 
law a month later. When the shooting begins, 
the birds are very young, though of good size, 
and do not fly either fiist or fiir ; the weather is 
hot, and I am satisfied that above half of those 
which are killed are spoiled and never used. At 
the present time the grouse are much more scarce 
about Elkhart, especially young grouse. The chief 
reason is the want of good nesting-places. Except 
in Mr. Gillot's extensive pastures, there are no 
good nesting-places left of any account. This is 
what causes the great diminution of the numbers 
of pinnated grouse. They are so prolific, and 



GENERAL INTRODUCTOKY KEMAKKS. 2? 

their food is so alnindant, that they could stand 
shooting iu and out of season, and even the trap- 
ping and netting Avhieh are so extensively carried on 
in many parts; l>ut vrhen the prairie is all <»r 
nearly all hroken up, no good l)reeding-place. 
remain, and young grouse are not to he found. 
Thus it has heen in a great measure ahout Elk- 
hart. Late in the fall, when they pack and come 
in from the distant j)rairies where they hreed, 
the birds seem to he as plentiful or nearly as 
plentiful as they were hefore. Ahout the last of 
October and in November a'ou may see as many 
as five hundre<l in a pack. They are then strong 
and wild. Some people maintain that the pin- 
nated grouse do not migrate from one place to 
another. I am certain that with us they do. 
There are now ten times as many about Elkhart 
in November as there are in September, therefore 
the bulk of them are not bred there. Moreover, 
I have been at Keokuk in Iowa late in the tall, 
and have seen the grouse coming from the interior 
of that State in large numbers, and flying across 
the Mississippi Tviver into Illinois. They are 
never known to do so at any other season, and if 
that Is not migration I do not know what it can 
be. The river there is so wide that the flight 



2S FIELD BHOOTING. 

across is <i long one for a grouse, and I think 
nothing Lut the migratory instinct would induce 
the grouse to make it, unless it Avere pressing 
danger. Nom' they face the danger in order to 
make their migration, for the people shoot at 
them as they fly over th<^, town to cross the 
river, and some are killed. 1 think they no doubt 
cross the Mississippi at many other points to 
make the east hank, and no one ever sees them 
return to Iowa. Ducks and geese are not so 
plentiful about Klkhart as they are on the San- 
gamon. Still thoir numbers are vcr}' large at times. 
They come out iii the evening to feed in the corn- 
fields, and at such times 1 have often killed twenty 
c<)uple, which is a ]>retty goo<l bag for one gun. 
Snipe are now scai-cc^ iii the neighborhood of Elk- 
hart. Cultivation and tho, draining of swamp- 
lands ha^'e conv«>rtt'd the places which were the 
favorite resorts for snipe into the best wheat and 
corn land in the State. The change of condition 
in the -land is the chief cause of the diminution of 
game of various sorts in particidar places. It has 
more to do with it than all other causes. Al- 
though the pinnated grouse are trapped and netted 
by thousands, as M'ell as shot in a sportsmanlike 
manner, it wo\dd not of itself reduce their num- 



GENERAL I>JTKODUC'TORY REMARKS. 29 

bers so as to ho greatly perceptible. Immense 
numbers are sent East which are taken in nets 
and traps. Some are killed by coming in contact 
with the telegraph wires in their flight. Bnt all 
these causes would be inadecpiate to reduce the 
stock mucli if the Itreeding birds liad the nesting- 
places which they formerly used. The grouse 
used to breed in the prairies. cMmmoidy along the 
edges of tlie sloughs. In inaiiy parts tlu> prairies 
are nearly all broken iij) and brought \\\](]ei' eid- 
tivation. Many now make theii- nests in the 
fields of the fanner, and thes<> nests are neaidy all 
broken up and destroyed by the ploughing in the 
spring. Quail, whose nests are made in hedges 
and corners of fences and under bunches of bram 
bles, escape, and we see them increase in numbers 
in the very places where the grouse diminish. A 
great source of destruction to the nests of the 
grouse might be easily prevented. In most places 
there are patches of prairie left for pasture, and 
in these the birds build. Many farmers follow 
a practice of burning these patches over late in 
the spring, under a notion that it improves the 
pasturage by causing the young grass to spring 
up fine and succulent as soon as the weather gets 
warm. When these patches of prairie are burned 



30 FIELD SHOOTING. 

over, there are eommonly many nests in each, 
sometimes scores of them, and they are half-ful] 
of eggs. This cuts up tlie supply of grouse root 
and branch, and reduces the lumibers to a serious* 
extent every year. It is a great mistake on the 
part of tile farmers, for the grouse, by consump- 
tion of grasshoppers and other destructive insects, 
is one of the agricultnrist's ])est friends, and the 
grass would be just as good if tlie ])atches of 
prairie wei'e l)nrned over late in tlie fall, when 
there would be no nests destroyed. It is to be 
hoped that this jdan will 1)e adopted for the fu- 
ture ; and I think it will be, for the ])ossession of 
guns and sporting-dogs, and the love of shooting, 
are spreading among the farmers of the West, and 
these, after all, will be in time the most efficient 
preservers of the game. The men, such as my- 
self, who go every fall to shoot in the great un- 
broken prairies M'hich still exist in Ford County. 
Champagne County, and al)out there, burn the 
grass themselves late in the fall, and thus leave 
nothing to l)e bui'iied the following spring in nest- 
ing-time. By this means the stock of grouse is 
fully kept up, and it is from thence the great 
packs migrate towards the last of October and in 
Novembei'. Upon this subject I consider myself 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 31 

competent to speak. 1 have had much experience, 
and have conferred with many practical men 
whose experience is nearly or quite as great as 
my own. What 1 have stated I know to he true. 
No doubt, when the hen-birds have lost their first 
nests by the plough, or by the much more destruc- 
tive burning of the prairie patches late in spring, 
they make other nests ; but these also are often 
destroyed ; and if they are not, the broods are 
small and late, and quite unable to take care of 
themselves when the shooting season l)egins. 

The best spring shooting in Illinois is snipe ; 
and in many parts, such as that on the Sangamon 
River, the birds are found in abundance. I know 
of no better ground for them anywhere. After 
the snipe come the golden plover, sometimes in 
very large flocks. This beautiful and delicious 
little bird stays with us some three or four weeks, 
and the sport they afford is excellent. They 
are commonly shot from horseback, or by means 
of a wheeled vehicle, as is said to be the prac- 
tice in the Eastern States. You must be a 
good sportsman to fill your bag with them, and 
there is no better practice for a good shot than at 
them. After remaining with us about a month the 
•golden plover go farther north to breed. The up 



32 F1«LD SHOOTING. 

land or gray plover stays Avith us and breeds in 
Illinois. They flock to some extent, but not in 
such large numbers as the golden plover do. 1 
have often seen as many as four hundred or five 
hundred of the latter together, and they sometimes 
fly so close in the pack thnt a great many can 
be cut down with two barrels w^hen you can get 
within fair distance. After they have scattered and 
run before they fly, the practice at the single 
birds is as good as anything for the education 
of a marksman. The upland plover are more 
open in their flight, as well as in smaller flocks. 
They ought not to be shot at all in the spring 
with us, for they do not arrive from the South 
until aV)out coi'n-planting time, and then they are 
readv to paii- and make their nests. September 
is the proper month to shoot them. They are 
then very fat and delicious for the table. They 
frequent the great pasture I mentioned belong- 
ing to Mr. Gillot. When Miles Johnson of New 
Jersey was in Illinois shooting with me over that 
ground, he sai<l he had never seen such plover 
as those before — that is, for size and fiitness — and 
that each of them would fetch half a dollar in 
Boston market. 

Eight or ten years ago the American hare; 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 33 

commonly called the rabbit, used to abound 
about Elkhart. 1 and another man, by beating 
the hedges, one on each side, after the first snow, 
when there was about four inches on the ground, 
once killed a hundred and sixty in a day. They 
decreased at one time, but recently they have 
been getting numerous again, and there is now a 
good head of them. The abundance of game in 
any given year depends very much upon the 
breeding season, for there are commonly old ones 
left to raise a good stock. If the spring is warm 
and moderately dry, the broods of quail and 
grouse are large, and the young birds grow up 
strong, so as to be able to fly fast and go a 
good distance when the shooting season begins. 
When the spring is cold and wet, many broods 
are lost through the nests being drowned out. 
The broods which are hatched out are small, and 
the young birds have a hard time of it until 
summer begins. The last spring was a very 
favorable one in the West, and grouse and quail 
are numerous and strong. Farmers who had seen 
many nests of grouse told me that in most in- 
stances every egg had been hatched out, and in 
Jun.e 1 saw myself as many as twelve young 
grouse in a gang. All the old ones that I ob- 



34 . FIELD SHOOTING. 

served had large numbers of }'ouiig birds, and the 
latter wvw lai'gr and strong. The Western eouii- 
tvy aboriids \\ itii iiawks, and these perseeiite the 
(|iiaii, gi'oust'. and duck NCi-y niiich. I have seen 
a bevy <A' (|uail iu sueh <U's})erate terror ^\■llen 
pursued by a hawk that the}' dashed against a 
house and many were killed. 1 kill all the hawks 
I can, and often let a grouse go inishot at in 
order t<» bfing <lown a hawk. There is one l)ird 
of that (>f(h'r which makes great ravages among 
the ducks. It just kills for the sake of killing, 
for it strikes down one after the other. It is a 
small, long-winged hawk, very muscular and strong, 
and uncommonly rapid in flight. I have seen 
this hawk when pursuing ducks strike one down 
and let it lie, going on after the others, and 
continuing to harass and kill imtil the prey could 
reach water. This hawk does not consume a 
fourth of the grouse and duck it kills. It is not 
large enough to carry away a good-sized duck, 
and I don])t ^^•hether it could fly away with a 
grouse for any distance. Eighty miles from Elk- 
hart there is the Winnebago Swamp, a large and 
wild track of water, moss, and cover. Ducks, 
such as mallard, teal, and widgeon, breed there 
in large numbers. 1 have often flushed them 



GENERAL IXTRODUOTOK Y^ REMARKS. 35 

from tlieir lu-sts ^^•llelL [ liaxc l)ceii siii|)o-sh(X)t- 
in<.r thereabout. A few geese l)reed there also, 
hut j)erhaps these arc only those whieh, owiiicr to 
])eiiig wounded or to some accident, have heen 
unable to join the great flocks in their s]>rhig 
flight t. .wards the North. From wliat 1 am told 
by men who ha\c been exploi-ers and hunters in 
the ser\iee ..f the Hudson's Hay Company, n() 
juatter Ik.w tar north bidians or white men may 
Denetrate, it is found tliat the geese go fartlier in 
the summer, and I. ring l.aek their broods in the 
fall. \n this Winnebago Swamp 1 have oceasion 
ally found tlic nest of tlic. sanddiiJl crane, and 
sometimes tliat of the blue c]-anc. The crane builds 
its nest on tlic top of a muskrat honsc, just as 
the geese do in that section. It lays two eggs, 
mueh larger thaii those of a goose, especially in 
length, and one ..f the cranes coinnioidy keeps 
wateh by tlie nest. The ]iests of the ducks are 
built on tussocks of grass. Tlic A\'innel)ago Swamp 
used to harbor many wolves, and there are a con- 
siderable number tliere yet. 1^hi-ee years ago, in 
company with a hunter named Henry Condcrman. 
I found the den of a she- wolf in the swamp, and 
we took her litter of six whejps. Afterwards we 
trapped the old one. AVe (^..t thirty-five dollars 



36 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



from the. ooiiiity. as it ]>ays a hotiiity of live dol- 
lars a head. The gra} prairie wolf is Aery de- 
strueti\e of young pigs, lambs, geese, ete.. and 
wolves are more numerous in Illinois now than 
most people suppose. Last spi-ing Mr. Gillot 
took a litter of five wliel)>s in his grove near 
Elkhart. lie has a gi-aii<l \\(df-hunt every sum- 
mer. The men who Innc hounds in the neigh- 
borhood meet, aixl a small paek is got together, 
with whieh we, hunt the grove, and there is nearly 
always line sport. Mr. Gillot's daughters have 
fine saddle-horses and are good riders. With 
some other ladies the} see the ehase from the 
hills, and there is a grand time. Last summer we 
ran three down in the pastures and killed them. 
Another also took to the open, and was killed 
after the hunt was oAer in one of the pastures 
by Mr. L. B. Dean. Thus there were four ac- 
counted for, all of one litter and about half- 
grown. But the old wolves got away, as they 
usually do, for our hounds jire not able to run 
on to an old wolf. They go very fast, keep up 
their lope for a long time, know the ground well, 
and are very cunning as well as fierce when 
cornered or brought to bay. Gray foxes are 
numerous with us. Eagles are commonly to be 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 37 

found along the creeks, and they are sometimes 
very bold. Last winter one made a sudden 
pounce and grabbed a grouse I had just shot. I 
gave him the No. 6 shot from the other barrel, 
and as he was near I expected to see him fall, 
but he got away with the charore without the 
grouse. 

From that which has been stated in this intro- 
ductory chapter, it will be apparent that there is 
no trouble in finding places where good shooting 
may be had. Even where there are no pinnated 
grouse, the sportsman may find plenty of work for 
his dogs and his gun. It is not to be expected 
that, in parts very thickly settled and populated, 
there will be the abundance and variety of game 
which might once be found. Many snipe-grounds 
are now drained, and some are even thickly built 
over. The brakes and thickets which once held 
the woodcock have largely been cut up and 
cleared away. Quail, however, are more nume- 
rous in many States than they ever were before. 



CHAPTER II. 

GUNS AND THEIR PROPP^R CHARGES. 

1 GOULD never see any use to the shooter in a 
long theoretical or practical description of the 
principles and details of guns as they are made. 
All such knowledge is necessary to the gunmaker, 
but of no practical use at ail to tlie shooter, for 
which reason 1 shall say next to n(jthing about it. 
It is no more essential to the marksman or young 
sportsman that he should understand the mecha- 
nism and mode of manufacturing guns, than it is 
that he should determine whether the C'hinese or 
Roger Bacon first invented gunpowder before he 
shall fire a shot off. Sportsmen may safely leave 
such matters to the gunmakers, who are nearly 
everywhere a very ingenious, painstaking, trust- 
worthy class of men. There is no handicraft in 
which more care is displayed or more ambition 
felt to excel. The improvements and ingenious 
devices which have so rapidly followed one an- 
other of late years, all proceeding from member^ of 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 39 

the art and mystery of gunmaking, establish this 
beyond doubt. There are plenty of men among 
us who can remember when nothing was in use 
but the old flint-lock gun. They have not forgot- 
ten the misfires which often occurred, when the 
sportsman was left staring after the bird, which 
flew away rejoicing, and impartially distributing 
his curses between the flint, the lock, and the 
priming. The percussion-lock with its detonating 
cap was an immense improvement, and, no doubt, 
suggested the use in the household of the friction- 
matches which have quite superseded the old- 
fashioned tinder-box with its piece of flint and 
steel. Then came the breech-loader, an invention 
of enormous value, and improved upon since its first 
discovery and application. 

I first began to shoot with an old musket — flint- 
lock, of course, and probably one of those specimens 
of " Brown Bess '' which had been used in wars 
against the French and Indians before the Revolu- 
tion. I was then a boy, and soon found out that for 
the game about Albany County, New York, '• Brown 
Bess" would not do. As soon as by hard work 
and careful saving I had got together twenty-five 
dollars (twenty-fivt^ dollars was rather hard to get 
in those days) I bought a muzzle-loader. It was a 



40 FIELD SHOOTING. 

cheap gun, and I do not recommend cheap guns; 
but when a man cannot afford an expensive one, 
a cheap gun is a good deal better than none, or 
than an old " Brown Bess " musket. For some 
years after I v/ent to Illinois as well as before, I 
never shot with any but common guns. I killed 
plenty of game, and could al^vays sell a gun when 
it w\as pretty well worn out for as much as I had 
paid for it. Men looking at the size of the bunch 
of grouse or ducks I brought in, or at the twenty 
brace of , quail to Avhich I stinted myself in the 
oak barrens on the Sangamon, thought it was the 
gun which accounted for the success, and were ready 
to buy it. Afterwards I got a Greener gun, one of 
the best muzzle-loaders that I have ever seen. I 
paid one hundred and twenty-five dollars for it, 
and it had but one fault. It weighed seven pounds 
and a half, which is too light for my estimate of 
excellence. It kicked when pretty heavily charged, 
and kept my finger and cheek sore. But it was a 
close-shooting, hard-hitting gun, and when the 
breech-loaders came out I would not have swapped 
it for a hundred of them. I thought they would 
not put their shot regular and close, and that they 
would lack penetration. 1 have since completely 
changed that opinion. 



GUNS AND THETR PROPER CHARCIES. 41 

A gun of ten gauge, thirty-two inch barrels, ten 
pounds, is one for all sorts of uses. It will stop 
anything that flies or runs on this side of the 
Rocky Mountains, if properly charged and aimed. 
Many may think ten pounds too heavy to carry, 
but the advantage of a good solid gun in delivery 
of fire is very great. I do not like light guns, 
neither is a cheap arm at all economical. The breech- 
loader 1 am now using was a three-hundred-dollar 
gun, and, considering the prices they were selling 
at w^hen I bought it, w^as worth the money. It 
has done a great deal of work — much hard w^ork 
— and done it well. I have shot with it twelve 
times in matches against time, undertaking to 
kill fifty birds in eight minutes, and have won 
the. money every time. I have also killed with 
it fifty-three out of fifty-four birds in four min- 
utes and forty-five seconds. This was at Jersey- 
ville, Illinois, twenty yards from the trap and 
two birds in the trap. H. B. f^layton was 
present. At New Orleans 1 killed one hundred 
and eleven out of one hundred and eighteen in 
seventeen minutes and thirty seconds, and picked 
up my own Ijirds. I have shot many other 
matches with this gun, besides using it in a vast 
amount of field-shooting every ispriilg, fall, and 



42 FIELD SHOOTING. 

winter. All this work it has stood well. It has 
never been to a gunsmith-shop to be repaired, 
and is as tight at the breech and as perfect in 
the opening and clasping action as ever it was. 
These facts prove conclusively that there is no- 
thing wrong in the principle of a breech-loader, 
and that, if such a gun is properly constructed, 
it will stand as much wear and tear as a muz- 
zle-loader. I am, however, of the opinion that 
shooting the time-matches has somewhat impaired 
the fine shooting qualities of this gun by mak- 
ing the barrels so hot. I fancy it does not now 
throw its shot so close or distribute it so evenly 
as it did before the barrels were heated in these 
matches. They got so hot that the resin broiled 
out of the soldered joints along the rib, and in 
one instance burned my hand through a buckskin 
glove. To shoot well, a man must have his gun 
so stocked as to fit him. Some require a longer 
stock than others. Some like stocks which 
are nearly straight, while others can shoot with 
a gun the stock of which is crooked. It depends 
mostly on the build of the man. A long-armed 
man does not want a gun with a short stock. 
A man with a moderately long neck cannot use 
a gun which is straight in the stock with ease 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 43 

or pleasure. 1 choose a stock of moderate length, 
and one that is rather crooked — one with a dro]» 
of about three inches. This sort of a gun comes 
even up to the shoulder with most men, and you 
do not have to crook the neck much in taking 
aim with it. Some people pretend that there is 
no need to look along the rib at the bird in 
order to shoot well. They shoot well, and they 
say they do not do so. J believe they are mis- 
taken. Taking aim does not mean dwelling on 
the aim and pottering about in an uncertain way 
with the gun at the shoulder. Even in snipe- 
shooting there is a distinct aim taken, though, 
when a good-fitting gun is brought up to the 
shoulder, the aim is almost instantaneous, and the 
discharge follows on the next instant. At pigeons 
some men do shoot without sighting the bird ; 
but they know just where the bird must fly 
from, and they have the trick of covering the trap 
by raising the breech and lowering the muzzle as 
if done by a gauge, and then they blaze aw^ay. 
Such men often kill the bird before it gets on the 
wing, and this proves that practically they shoot 
at the trap and just beyond it, rather than at the 
bird. This sort of thing is impracticable in the 
field, and there, if not everywhere else, the man 



44 FIELD SHOOTlN(^. 

who sights his bird along the rib of his gun, in 
shooting straight forward, makes the best bag 
There are, of course, some situations in which you 
must practise snap-shooting to get any shooting at 
all. At woodcock in cover, or at grouse and quail 
ill corn, you can have but a glimpse of the bird 
you shoot at, and you must aim just where intui- 
tion, as it may be called, tells you the bird will 
be. In cases where the bird can be plainly seen 
it should be distinctly aimed at. It is not a ques- 
tion of quickness. In the time-matches where I 
must necessarily shoot very quick, and in those 
matches where I stand between two traps forty 
yards apart, which are pulled at the same time, I 
sight my bird before I pull the trigger. If I did 
not, I could never accomplish the feats which have 
become easy to me. 

There were once many men prejudiced against 
breech-loading guns, and some who had given them 
a trial remained so. But in most of these latter 
cases the men had either got hold of a poor gun, 
or did not know how to load a good one. If the 
cartridge is not properly filled, wadded, and turned 
down, the shooting will be inferior, no matter 
how good the gun may be or how skilful the 
shooter. One time I saw a match shot at Frank- 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 45 

fort, Kentucky, in which one man used a breech- 
loader and the other a muzzle-loader. As soon as 
they began to shoot 1 saw that the breech-loader, 
although it was in the hands of the iDest man of 
the two, would be beaten. And why ? Because 
his cartridges w^ere not properly filled. The wads 
on the powder, instead of lying flat and snug, were 
often partty edgewise. It was the same with the 
wads on the shot, besides which the cartridges 
were not well turned down over the w\ads. The 
shooter who ha<l lost the match blamed his gun, 
which was a light one, and sent for one of ten 
pounds weight, like mme. B-ut if he is as careless 
in loadmg his cartridges for the heavy gun as he 
was when he had the light one, the shooting will 
not be any better I could have told him how to 
win, but it was not my business to interfere in 
the matter. The shot in the cartridges should 
have been taken out, the wads sent home true, 
and the ends of the cases turned down close after 
the shot was replaced and evenly wadded. 

The first time 1 visited New York and other 
Eastern States for the purpose of pigeon-shooting 
I spent some days with Miles Johnson, of Yard- 
ville, Mercer County, New Jersey. He is a 
famous pigeon-shooter and an excellent field sports- 



46 FIELD SHOOTING. 

mail. Few men, if any, know better how, when, 
and where to make a good bag of woodcock, 
snipe, or quail. Now, Miles had a number of 
crack muzzle-loaders, expressly for shooting-matches, 
and he was confident no breech-loader could equal 
them in pattern and penetration. I remarked that 



I ha<l a good gun, and would shoot against him 
and liis best muzzle-loader at a target. Miles 
declared with some heat and vociferation that 
" he'd be — " if I could beat him in shooting at a 
target at all, let alone using a breech-loader 
against the most famous of his muzzle-loaders. 
However, taking paper for targets and our guns, 
we repaired to an old barn near Yardville, and 
shot at them. Mr. Nathan Dorsey Avas present. I 
beat Miles very easily, and with an ounce of shot 
put more pellets in the target from the breech- 
loader than he did with an ounce and a half from 
his muzzle-loader. Miles hardly knew what to 
make of it, but, perceiving that the penetration of 
my shot was also good, he finally acknowledged 
that a good breech-loader would beat any other 
sort of gun in shooting, and he now shoots with 
one himself And thus it will be found in almost 
every case. When a man has strong precon- 
ceived opinions, it is of very little use to argue 



GUNS AXl) THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 4< 

with him. The effectual thing is to show him 
that he is in error by actual demonstration of the 
tacts in his presence. Nothing but actual experi- 
ence would have convinced me at one time that a 
breech-loader would shoot as w^ell as, or better than, 
a first-rate muzzle-loader. Now 1 know the feet. 
I convinced Abraham Kleinman, of Calumet, Illi- 
nois, in the same practical manner He is, in my 
opinion, the best duck-shooter in the country, and 
one of the best at pigeons from the trap. His 
brethers, John and Henry, are also good shots. 
They had used muzzle-loaders all their lives, and 
could not be persuaded that breech loaders were 
good until Abraham found that I could beat him 
and use one He then got one himself, and John 
and Henry soon followed his example. Nearly 
all the good shots in Illinois adopted the breech- 
loading gun. Some held out against it for a long 
time on the ground that it was new — as if every 
good thing which is old had not been new itself 
one time. Not very long ago the percussion-lock 
Avas new. Again, some people have a prejudice 
as to breech-loaders, believing them to be defective 
in the very points wherein they excel. It hap- 
pened in the early 70's, one April I shot at 
Frankfort, Kentucky, for sweepstakes. All the 



48 FIELD SHOOTING. 

subscribers except myself had muzzle-loading guns. 
It was a wet, damp day, and my opponents 
had got it into their heads that the breech- 
loader would often miss fire in such weather. 
They therefore insisted upon a change in their 
rules so as to provide that when the gun missed 
fire it should be a lost bird, no matter how well 
the gun might have been loaded. I must admit 
that I chuckled inwardly as I agreed to this 
change. 1 knew the weather might affect their 
caps, but that it could not impair mine in the 
cartridges. We shot the first day; the muzzle- 
loaders missed fire several times, while my breech- 
loader never missed fire at all. The upshot of it 
was that for the second day's shooting they de- 
manded the repeal of the new rule, so that they 
could have another bird after a misfire, if the 
gun was properly loaded and capped. I could, of 
course, have resisted this demand effectually ; for 
when in such a case action has begun, there can 
be no change in rules or conditions without the 
unanimous consent of all concerned as principals. 
But I agreed to the change, and won both stakes. 
A good breech-loader will shoot as well in wet 
weather as in fair weather, and there will be no 
misfires on account of damp. But if there is a 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 40 

defect in the action of the plunger, so that it does 
not strike square on the cap, there will be mis- 
fires in any weather. This is a point which needs 
particular attention in the choice of a gun. As I 
said before, I shoot with a gun of ten pounds weight 
now, and prefer it much to those of seven and a 
half pounds, with which 1 used to shoot formerly. 
But some think a gun of ten pounds too heavy to 
carry through a long day and use in all sorts of 
ground. For many a lighter gan would be better 
for woodcock-shooting, and for grouse and quail 
in tall corn. But I would not recommend any 
one to get a gun of less weight than seven and a 
half pounds for general shooting and good service. 
If in choosing a gun you are in doubt concerning 
the weight which will salt you, give the gun 
the benefit of it, and take one a pound 
heavier than you have had before, if it weighed 
seven and a half pounds or less. A man soon 
gets used to the extra pound in the weight of his 
gun, and carries and uses it as easily as he did the 
lighter one, while the shooting of it will be much 
nicer and more pleasant, and the bag of game 
will be larger. The question is one of conve- 
nience, hardly of strength ; for any man fit to 
go into the field at all can carry and use a gun 



50 FIELD SHOOTING. 

of eight pounds weight. It is true that until men 
nave worked themselves into some condition they 
will get tired in tramping over the prairies and 
fields and through the coverts carrying such a 
gun, but so they would if they carried nothing 
but a cane. 

In loading a gun of ten gauge for grouse 1 put 
into my cartridges four and a half or five drams 
of powder and an ounce of No. 9 shot, in the 
early part of the season. Later on I use No. 8 
shot, and still later No. 7. In November and 
December, for the shooting of grouse and duck, 
I charge with No. 6. Some use larger shot for 
ducks, but a charge of No. 6 from a good gun. 
w^ell held, will stop u duck as far off as seventy 
yards sometimes. With a strong charge of pow- 
der and shot of moderate size there is greater 
penetration, and a better chance of hitting besides. 
When 1 go out expressly for brant and geese, 1 
load my cartridges with No. 2 ; Ijut when out for 
general shooting, ] have killed many brant and 
some geese with No. 6. For quail-shooting I use 
No. 8 or No. 9 ; for plover, No. 8 ; for snipe, 
No. 10. For wild turkeys 1 once preferred shoot- 
ing with a rifle, but I now use the breech-loading 
shot-gun with No. 1 shot in the cartridges. 



GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHAROES. 51 

In cliauipiou matches I use juiper cases for the 
cartridges, and put in live drams of powdei', witli 
two pink-edged wads over it. They must be forced 
down square and level upon the powder with a 
rammer, but not rammed too hard. An ounce and 
a half of No. 9 shot is then put in, evenly placed, 
and a thin wad, or the half of a split pink-edged 
wad, is pressed down firmly and evenly upon the shot. 
The cartridge is then to be turned down smoothly 
and closely on the upper wad. I decidedly prefer 
^o. 9 shot to any other number at the trap. For 
field-shooting I employ metallic cartridge-cases ; they 
shoot well antl are cheap, as they can be used many 
times ovei'. T load them with fire drams of powder 
and one pink-edged wad S(j[uare down upon it, and 
the same as to the shot. I employ wads two sizes 
larger than the bore of the gun. Thus, for a ten- 
gauge gun, No. 8 wads. This is necessary to keep 
them firm, so that the charge may not start in one 
barrel when the other is fired. Even with the 
large, tight wads in the cartridges it is best to 
tire the barrels as Tiearly alternately as may be. 
It will not do to shoot one barrel four or live 
times Avith the charge in the other all the while. 



52 FIELD SHOOTING. 

I believe there is nothing more needful to be 
said concerning guns, ammunition, and loading. 
It will have been seen that I believe in the 
necessity of large charges of good, strong powder 
more than in the efficacy of very large shot. The 
smaller shot, as I believe, are driven at higher 
velocities, and have greater penetration, than larger 
ones. Besides, the number of pellets to the 
weight of the charge is a very material thing. 
The more there are, the more will, in all pro- 
bability, be put into the bird shot at. But, as 
a matter of course, in following this principle a 
man is not to run into extremes and use very 
small shot for large game. On the other hand, 
he is not to be too ready, when the birds are 
not brought to l)ag, to lay it to the fault of 
small-sized shot. No shot is big enough to stop 
a bird without hitting him ; and before changing 
the size of the shot or finding fault with the 
gun, it will be better to endeavor to mend and 
improve the aim. 




EDWARD BOGARDUS. 



CHAPTER III. 

PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 

The pinnated grouse, commonly called, prairie, 
chicken where it is most abundant in the West, is 
a handsome bird, weighing from two pounds to 
two and a half pounds, sometimes nearly three 
when it has reached mature size. It is a delicious 
bird on the table, either Avhen split and broiled 
w^hile young, the flesh being then white, or roasted 
when of full size. It formerly prevailed in New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Long. Island, and Kentucky, 
in parts where there were open heaths; but it is 
not now found until the valley of the Mississippi 
is reached. There are none in Ohio, but few in 
Indiana and Michigan ; but it is plentiful in Illi- 
nois, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and parts 
of Missouri and Wisconsin. The pinnated grouse 
is a bird of the grassy plains and great prairies, 
and does not frequent the M'oodland, save on frosty 
mornings, when it may be seen perched on trees 
near the edges of the groves. At such times, too, 
it will be seen perched on fences and corn-shocks. 

55 



56 FIELD SHOOTING. 

On such mornings, when the weather is still as 
M^ell as chilly, the grouse may be heard cackling 
and chattering in the timber-land for a consider- 
able distance inwards, hut on other occasions 
they never resort to the groves. This bird is 
certainly of much service to the agriculturist, as 
it consumes many grasshoppers and other de- 
structive insects, while the little wheat, corn, and 
oats it eats does jiot amount to anything by 
comj^arison. bideed. its food, before the wheat- 
land is in stul)ble. is j)robably wliolly composed 
of insects and the buds of heather and other 
plants to be found in the prairies and in tlie 
spacious pastures of the West. Before the great 
prairies of Illinois and other Western States wert^ 
broken up by the plough of the settler, the 
grouse were more numerous than they are now, 
and they could not havo fed on grain, because 
there were no fields of grain within hundreds of 
miles of them. It is the same now in those parts 
^vhere the prairies are still extensive, and on the 
great pastures where droves of bullocJ^s, hundreds 
strong in number, are flitted for the Eastern mar- 
kets. It is my firm belief, from observations 
made for many years about the time of the 
breeding season, that the pinnated grouse is poly- 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 57 

gamous, like oui- domestic cocks and hens. I have 
never seen them paired oft' as quail are Early 
in the spring the cocks are together in gangs. 
They get on hilly places, swell out their necks, 
and make a booming noise, which can be heard at 
a considerable distance. At this time, too, they 
fight with each other like game-cocks. The hens 
at the same season are to be found in gangs, but 
not on the same ground as the cocks. While 
the latter congregate on the hills the hens remain 
oil the prairie, and go into the corn-fields to feed. 
A great deal of corn remains standing all the 
winter in the West, and is not shucked until it is 
time to plough and plant again. The grouse 
mostly roost in the long grass of rich bottom- 
lands. About the last of April and beginning of 
May the hens make their nests. I have found 
one on the tenth of May containing as many as 
eight eggs. The nest is made on the ground, and 
formed of a little grass, and is a good deal like 
that of a domestic hen when she makes one in 
the fields. When the hen-grouse can conveniently 
get to the prairie, they build in that grass. When 
they cannot, they build in the fields, and often 
in patches of weeds. In the bottoms, which are 
generally wet at that season, the nests are made 



58 FIELD SHOOTING. 

(HI tussocks of thick gras^ which rise above the 
surface. When the weather happens to be wet 
about the last of May, many nests in the bottom- 
lands are overflowed, and the young which may 
have been hatched mostly perish by cold, starva- 
tion, or drowning. The hens w^hich have had 
their nests destroyed by floods, by prairie-burn- 
ing, or by the plough, commonly build again, but 
their broods are late, and usually of small num- 
ber. The hen lays from twelve to eighteen eggs, 
white in color, and about the size of those of a 
bantam hen. The hen sets twenty-one days, the 
same as barn-door fowl. The young run as soon 
as hatched; and if a man or a dog should go near 
where they are, they will hide and skulk under 
the grass, even on the first day, while the old 
hen will try to lead the intruder away. They 
feed on insects for the most part, the old hens 
catching them at first for the young chicks. The 
latter, however, soon learn to catch them for 
themselves. As they grow larger, they feed a 
good deal on herbage. The young increase in size 
very rapidly. They are not hatched until early 
in June, at the earliest ; and on the fourth of July, 
in a favorable season, 1 have seen broods which 
were half grown. The breeding-time varies ac- 



PINxVATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 59 

cording to the season and the situation, but every 
year there are some broods early, some late, and 
some very late, the latter being brought off by 
hens which have lost their first nests. By the 
fifteenth of August some of the broods are about 
full grown ; but they are then tame, and, having 
grown so rapidly, are weak on the wing, and soon 
tire. I believe hybrids • have been produced by 
the hen-grouse and the bantam cock. Last spring, 
at Omaha, Nebraska, I saw in the possession of 
Mr. George A. Hoagland, President of the Shoot- 
ing Club, a bird of the preceding year, which had 
been shot out of a covey of seven or eight. This 
bird was believed to be a hybrid. There was 
another of the same brood in the town, and both 
were well stuffed and set up. All the brood were 
alike as to markings and appearance. Their size 
was that of a grouse two-thirds grown. In shape 
they were more like the bantam or barn-door 
fowl than the grouse. The ground color of their 
plumage was a dingy white, but they were spangled 
all over with feathers colored and . barred like 
those of grouse. That they were hatched by a 
hen-grouse is unquestionable, for she was often 
seen with them. She made her nest close to a 
hoiise, and it was believed that a domestic cock 



60 FIELD SHOOTING. 

was the ftither of her young ones. Albinos of the 
grouse species are sometimes seen, but those 
above referred to were not at all like Albinos. 
There is a very beautiful specimen of the Albino 
at the Grand Central Hotel at Omaha, and the 
supposed hybrids did not resemble it in the least. 
I was informed that this brood of spangled grouse 
or hybrids were exceptionally wild. But for all 
that most of them were shot, though but two pre- 
served. These birds are still to be seen at Omaha, 
and it might be well for a scientific naturalist to 
examine them. 

The game-law of Illinois allows the shooting 
of grouse to commence on the fifteenth of Au- 
gust* and in some States it is suffered to begin 
as early as the first of that month. Both these 
dates are too early. The first of September would 
be quite soon enough, and most sportsmen would 
prefer that date. As the law now stands, nearly 
all begin to shoot early ; for as some will do so, it 
cannot be expected that many others will refrain. 
On the fifteenth of August some broods of grouse 
are full grown, but the great majority are not, 
and many broods are not more than half grown, 
while some are so small as to be almost unable 
to fly. These are the broods of birds whose first 

'■^ The season was changed in 18S0 to Sept. 15 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 61 

nests were broken up in the spring. I never 
shoot at these half-callow young, but there are 
plenty of people who do. The early-grouse shooting 
is very good practice for young beginners with 
the gun, as they lie until you are near them, and 
fly slowly. But it would be just about as good 
if the shooting was deferred fifteen days later by 
law, as the birds M^ould still lie close and fly 
slowly. The early shooting makes the birds wild 
before they would otherwise become so, and it 
brings many to the bag half grown that would, 
under other circumstances, be bagged full grown. 
In the early part of the season grouse-shooting in 
the West is the easiest there is. The birds lie 
well to the dogs, their flight is slow, and they 
can usually be marked down near at hand. 
There is, however, one thing Avhich afl:brds pro- 
tection to the grouse, and presents considerable 
difficulty to the shooter. There are commonly 
corn-fields at no great distance, and if they fly 
into the corn when flushed in the stubbles or the 
prairie, it is very difficult to kill them. It is, 
on the whole, better to let them go as not at- 
tainable. Men cannot shoot well in tall corn; 
dogs can do but little in it, even the best of 
dotrs, at that season, and young ones are utterly 



(>» FIELD WHOOTING. 

useless, as they can neither see you nor you them, 
and no instructions can he given to them. The 
early season is the time for young beginners, as 
the broods are then numerous and easily foundo 
If the shooting was not allowed before September, 
it would answer the purpose of teaching the no- 
vices quite as well ; for though the birds would 
be somewhat Stronger on the wing, they would lie 
just as close, and would be larger. After the 
broods have been shot at two or three weeks, 
they are thinned out considerably, and have be- 
come much wilder. They are then of fine size^ 
the weather has become cooler, and the birds can 
be kept. At least half of the young grouse killed 
in the month of August become spoiled and are 
never used. Some may doubt this, but I state 
what 1 know to be facts. In August the weather 
is very often close and sultry ; for though there 
is commonly some air on the wide prairies, the 
breezes do not then prevail. 

At the beginning of the shooting season the 
grouse will be found at early morning in the stub- 
bles. They have gone out of their roosting-places 
to feed in the stubbles of the wheat and oat fields, 
which have then been pretty M^ell overgrown with 
rag-weed, and afford thick cover. Where flax is 



PlNNATK1)-<;HOrMK SHOOTINa. 63 

oultivated, you jiiay look tor thpivi in tlu'.flMN- 
stiibbles, as thry ai'f some ot" tlieii; most ta^<>l•it^' 
resorts. Aiiotlier gotnl place to l>eat. whenever 
A'o\i see one. is a bean-patch. The iia^y Ix'aii is 
a good deal oultivated in Illinois and- Iowa, and 
the grouse res<u't to tlie ]>atclies. Ai>out nine or 
ten o'clock. Avhen the sun has got high and tlie 
morning hot. the grouse leave the stub Ides and 
bean-patches, and walk into tin- Jong ]>i'aii-ic-grass 
or into the corn. <bi sncli days, in cleai- weather, 
at that season of the year, it is best t<» gi\e over 
shooting about ten o'clock, and lie by nntil late in 
the afternoon, when you may pursue your sport 
again with prospects of success, aud till up yom- 
bag. To continue at>er the grouse in the luiddle 
of the day is merely to distress your dogs atid to 
fatigue yourself for nothing. There is no scent, 
and the grouse Avill not lie in the opeji prairie. 
But on damp, cloudy days the case is altogether 
different. The birds then remain in the stubbles 
all day, unless flushed and driven int«^ the corn ; 
the dogs can ^^'ork and scent better : and under 
these overcast skies are the best and most glo- 
rious days of the grouse-shooter in the early part 
of the season. Later in the fall and at the be- 
ginning of winter the habit <:»f the grouse is 



<54 riKLD SHOOTING. 

dilFereiit, as will be specially noticed further on. 
A cloudy day, cool air, the dogs feeling and 
working well, plenty of grouse in the stubbles, 
;tnd the sportsman out of the glaring sunshine and 
able to shoot deliberately and well, make great 
enjoyment and a good bag. On the clear days, 
Avhen the grouse have left the stubbles for the 
prairie-grass and corn, instead of shooting all the 
time until you are tired, as you will be before 
night, until you have been seasoned and got into 
hard condition (jf muscle and wind, lay off in some 
house, or your camp, or in your wagon in the 
shade, if you can fmd it, until about four or half- 
past four o'clock in the afternoon. Then it will 
be time to begin to beat the stubbles again. The 
grouse will have come, or will be coming, on to 
them again from the resorts in which they spent the 
hot hours of the day ; and you and your dogs, being 
refreshed and rested, will be in good fettle for the 
sport. The sun will get low, and finally go down 
over the distant swells of land to the westward ; 
the dew will begin, insensibly to you, to fall ; the 
dogs will find the V)irds easily, they will lie well, 
and you may shoot as hjiig as you can see in the 
twilight. 

In some parts (»f fliinois, Iowa, and other 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 



65 



Western States there are very extensive ranges 
of pasture-land, on which great herds of cattle, 
many from Texas, are fattened. These lands have 
not been broken up by the plough at any time, 
but. being regularly depastured, have lost much 
of the prairie character. They remain, however, 
good resorts for grouse, and the shooting over 
them is some of the best to be had. The grouse 
bred on them probably never see a stubble-field, at 
least until after late in the fall of their first year. 
Their habits are the same as those of the birds 
which are found near the arable corn, wheat, 
and oat lands. In the morning they will 1)6 
^)und on the ridges and knolls where the grass 
i^ short. In the heat of the day they retire into 
the long grass which abounds in low, moist 
places. In the evening they return to the knolls 
and ridgv^s again. These pastures are sometimes 
of the extent of two thousand acres or more, 
and the shooting on them is second to none in 
those States. Yet they are comparatively little 
shot over, especially in the early part of the 
season. As a rule, it is believed the grouse are 
more abundant where the land is varied and 
stubbles, pieces of prairie, corn-fields, and patches 
of beans are found in the immediate neighborhood 



66 KlRl.l) SHOOTING. 

of each other. Foi- this reason most of che 
sportsmen, espeeially those of the towns near at 
hand, or from the more distant cities, who shoot 
mostly in the early jtai't of the season, go to 
them, and do not attempt the wide pastures. But 
give me the sport on the latter, and let me be- 
gin about the middle of September, M'hen most 
of the grouse l;)red on them are full-grown, 
strong birds, coming down with a thump seem- 
ingly hard enough to make a hoh> in the ground 
when killed clean and well. The grouse in these 
places commonly lie first-rate to the dog, and 
get up l)y twos and threes, so that a good shot 
has a chance to bring to bag many of the 
covey, and those he cannot shoot at the first rise 
may be easily marked down. In 1872 Miles 
Johnson of New Jersey was shooting with me in 
McLean County, Illinois. We camped near Bell- 
flower, and had a man for camp-keeper while 
Miles and I shot. We were out ten days, and 
in that time bagged six hundred grouse, shooting 
only mornings and evenings. As I Iuiac said be- 
fore, and wish to impress particularly upon my 
readers for their information and advantage, it is 
of no use to try for grouse in the middle of the 
day, Mhen the weather is clear, in the early part 



nXXATED-GROrSE SHOOTING. 67 

of the fall. The hest <la\ Miles .Tohiisoii and 1 
had that time Mas in one of the great pastures 
1 have alluded to above. It eontained from 
five to ten thousand acres. We Avent into it 
early in the morning, and came out about eleven 
o'clock in the forenoon with eighty full-groM'n 
grouse. That vras a capital morning's sport, no 
doubt, but I have often had as good. 

While we were at the camp near Bellflower we 
Mere visited by Johnson's friend, Mr. Eldridge 
of New Jersey. With him came Dr. Goodbreak of 
Clinton, Illinois. The doctor is an army surgeon 
and an ardent and excellent sportsman. They shot 
with us two days, using muzzle-loaders ; but when 
Dr. Goodbreak had seen the execution I did with 
my breech-loader, sometimes getting two or three 
nice shots while one was loading, and often killing 
a long way off, he was satisfied as to which was 
the best style of gun, and sent an order for a 
breech-loader to cost three hundred and fifty dollars. 
After being there ten days Miles Johnson left for 
home. I remained at the camp, and in a while 
A. Leslie and H. Robinson of Elkhart came up 
and shot with me. It was then getting late in 
the fall, and we had excellent success. The grouse 
were wild and very fast on the wing. They were 



68 FIELD SHOOTING. 

strong, and it took good shooting and hard hit. 
ting to bring them to the bag. I killed from ten 
brace to twenty l)race a day, and averaged about 
fifteen In-aee. My companions together did nor 
secure as many. In shooting grouse on the pas- 
tures, and indeed anywhere, you should beware 
of shooting too soon. M»any more birds are 
missed at short than at long shots, in my opin- 
ion. The sudden, loud whirr made by the rising 
of the grouse when it gets nj) startles young 
sportsmen, and some nervous, excitable old ones' 
too. The shot is hastily delivered, while the 
bird is so near that the charge has not distance 
enough to diverge and spread in, and the game 
is often missed. If the shooter had waited for 
steady sight of the "bird along the rib, which is 
not to be a slow, pottering aim, it would have been 
often Ijrought down. In McLean County, Ford 
County, and the others of the tier on that line, 
there is as good grouse-shooting as any 1 know of 
anywhere in Illinois. They are in the section of 
country lying southwest of Chicago, and a line 
drawn from that city to St. Louis in Missouri 
would pass through them. As good places as 
any to get off the railroad at are Bellf^ower in 
McLean County, and Gibson in Ford County- 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 69 

Twelve miles fVoiii Gibson is the great farm of 
Mr. Michael Sullivaiit. formerly of Columbus, 
Ohio. He has a tract of land containing forty- 
five thousand acres. Tt is a splendid place to 
shoot, and real sportsmen are made welcome by 
the owner. 1 was there last spring after brant 
and ducks, and made heavy bags. I saw at that 
time large numbers of grouse — a powerful breed- 
ing-stock. 

In shooting over the great pastures I have men 
tioned particular care must be taken not to go 
near the herds of cattle. They are pretty wild, 
and the coming near them of dogs makes them 
excited. In the first place, the farmers do n(^t 
like to have dogs taken near their cattle, and 
every good sportsman should carefully a^■oid do- 
ing anything which may annoy the owners of the 
land on whieh he may be. I can always g-et 
along pleasantly with the owners of the land, and 
so may any one else who will use them well and 
refrain from damage. bi the second place, if 
shooting parties go near the great herds of cat- 
tle with their dogs, the bullocks will come for 
the latter at a rim in a big drove, the fright- 
ened dogs will run to their masters, and l)efore 
the men can get out of the way of the furioni 



70 FIELP SHOOTING. 

rush tliey may he kiKH-krd down, tranipknl over 
hy scores of hoofs, and very likely killed. When 
shooting in these vast pastures, I take care to 
give tlie lierds a Avide berth, and keep well away 
from them. Even then they will sometimes begin 
to move towards the dogs, in which case I put 
the setters or pointers, as the case may be, into 
the buggy as soon as possible, and drive ofi' out 
of the sight nf the herd. In shooting grouse in 
Illinois, Iowa, and the other prairie States, the 
sportsman should take water in his buggy or 
wagon for himself and his dogs. The prairies 
are very spacious, the water-courses wide apait. 
the droughts sometimes long and severe. If he 
thinks to find water in natural places for him- 
self and his dogs, which need it oftener and 
more than iie, they will be very thirsty before 
he reaches any. If lie comes to a h<juse at such 
times, he will find that water is the most scarce 
and precious thing about the place. The w^ell is 
all but dry. The farmer's horses ai-e on short 
allowance. His milch cows are stinted, and stand 
lowing round the empty trough at the well half 
the night long. The people sometimes, in very 
dry seasons, have to haul water from a distance, 
as their own wells become dry, and their cattle 



PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 71 

and horses must be provided for. In this state 
of affairs it cannot be expected that the people 
will furnish half a bucket of water for a stranger 
or two and the dogs. Therefore when you 
start out from house or camp, take in your 
buggy or wagon a five-gallon jug of water as a. 
thing of prime necessity. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Late pinnated-grouse shooting. 

Jn the preceding chapter I have described the 
places and times to seek the pinnated grouse in 
the earlier part of the shooting season, and pointed 
out the methods of hunting for them Iw means of 
which satisfactory success is most likely to be ob- 
tained. We now come to the latter part of the 
season, the months of October and 'November, 
with that of December ; for the resolute and hardy 
sportsmen who care nothing for cold and wet 
may sometimes prefer a bag of winter grouse to 
one of duck or brant. In the month of October 
the prairies liave become brown, and later on the 
corn will have been wilted by the early frosts, 
if it has not been already. Some of the best 
shooting of the year, to my mind the very best, 
is now before the sportsman ; but it needs work, 
and young beginners will not find the grouse so 
easy to kill as they were in August and Septem- 
ber. In the early part of the season the best 
shooting hours were early and late in the day. 

7^ 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 73 

Now it is the reverse ; the middle of the day is 
the proper time. When I first came to Illinois, 
the grouse in October and later were mostly 
iuund in the prairie-grass. There has now been a 
change in their habits, and they seem to like best 
t<» lie in corn. I suppose the reason was that as 
prairies were much broken up, and the quantity 
of land in corn rapidly increased, the grouse found 
out that the lying in the corn was excellent, and 
the habit was soon formed. In the corn there is 
a great plenty of various kinds of food. The 
ground is mellow and affords excellent dusting 
places. In the West wheat is often sowed while 
the corn is still standing, being put in with a 
cultivator-plough. These wheat-fields in the corn 
are favorite places with the grouse, and 1 have 
many a time killed eighteen or twenty in one 
such field. Also, when wheat is sowed out upon 
the prairie, grouse will go to those fields at early 
morning. When the sun gets high, they will go 
into the prairie-grass, round the edges of the 
young wheat, and lie there all the middle of the 
day. Then there is nice shooting. At four or 
five o'clock, towards evening, the birds will go 
out upon the young wheat-fields again. This is in 
clear weather. On cloudy days the grouse stay 



74 FIELD SHOOTING. 

on the wheat, the bare places of the prairie, 
and on ploughed land all day, and it is of no use 
to go after them. You may just as well stay in 
your tent or house as go after grouse, for you 
cannot get near them. If there are quail in the 
neighborhood, you may have sport with them. 
In only one way can grouse be shot late in the 
fall in cloudy, overcast weather, and it is hardly 
worth while to employ that. You may drive up 
in a buggy, as we do in plover-shooting, and so 
get near enough, but it is more trouble than the 
game you will kill is worth, and I never do 
it. I may say here that those who go out shoot- 
ing in the prairie States need to have a wagon or 
buggy with them. It may be done without, but 
the work is very severe. The prairies are very 
wide, and it is a good way from one favorable 
point to another. When I first went to- Illinois, 
now many years ago, I used to start out in the 
morning, on foot, and shoot all day. I used no 
dog at all then, and had but a poor, light gun, 
which did but little execution, though I shot 
middling well. When I had got about seven 
or eight grouse, I used to hide them and mark 
the place, to be taken up on my way back. 
With this gun I speak of and common pow- 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 75 

der I have often shot aMay a pound of the 
latter to get twenty-five or thirty birds. I fol- 
lowed, in those days, the example of other 
people, and used shot several sizes larger than 
was necessary or proper. At that date we used 
No. 1 or No. 2 in October and November, and I 
believe I was one of the first to discover that with 
No. 6, from a good gun, with a strong charge of 
powder, the biggest cock-grouse that ever flew 
could be brought to the bag. At the end of my 
day's shooting at that period I used to have to 
carry twenty-five or thirty grouse as well as the 
gun for four or five miles, sometimes further. 
This was no small matter. 

The October shooting of grouse, good as that 
is, may be excelled, according to my notions, by 
that in November. They generally lie in the 
corn among the tumble-weed, so called from its 
growing up and rolling over so as to form snug 
cover ; and they are especially fond of lying in 
the sod-corn, which is that grown upon the land 
the first crop after the prairie is broken up. This 
sod-corn does not grow up tall, as the corn on 
older-tilled land does. In November the blades 
of the corn are hanging down, wilted by the 
frost. The stalks are shiunk. The dogs can 



76 



FIELD SHOOTINO. 



work in it, and you can see to shoot in it. But 
it takes good shooting to make good bags. The 
birds are now at full growth and strength. They 
have in all probability flown the gauntlet of 
niany guns, and the weaker ones have been 
thinned out of the packs. But on clear days 
they lie well to the dogs, and, being swift and 
strong on the wing, when they rise the sport 
aflforded is capital. One of the best days I ever 
had was in November, near Farmer City, Cham- 
pagne County, Illinois. I was accompanied by 
Mr. Nathan Doxie, of Geneseo, a keen sports- 
man and good shot. At that time he shot with 
a muzzle-loader, while I used a breech-loader. It 
w^as a clear, bright day, warm for the time of 
year. We beat the sod-corn, of which there 
was a great deal in the neighborhood, and, when 
the birds flew out into the adjoining prairie, we 
could mark them down. Our bag was a very 
heavy one. I killed fifty-seven grouse and Mr. 
Doxie knocked over eighteen, making seventy- 
five fine fat Inrds in all. Mr. Doxie said it was 
the first time he had ever been beaten in the 
field. There was another person shooting ne{»r 
us all day, but he did next to nothing, killing 
but fi^•e grouse, as I remember. I have shot 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 77 

with many men in the month of November, and 
good shots too, but never one that I did not 
beat. 

Three times in the course of my experience in 
field-shooting I have killed ten grouse with two 
barrels. Once in Menard County, near Salt Creek, 
late in November, 1 came upon a plank fence 
in a light snow-storm. It happened that there 
was a grapevine growing thickly over part of 
the fence, and, getting this between me and the 
birds, I secured a pretty close shot. They were 
scattered along the fence for a distance of about 
ten yards. With the first barrel 1 killed nine, 
and with the other one. Another time I got a 
shot at a lot near a fence, and killed ten with 
two barrels. And once in Logan County I got 
within shot of about twenty birds which were 
in short grass, and killed ten with both barrels. 
Such shots as these are very seldom to be got. 
A man may shoot half a lifetime and never 
meet with one. I have often, in the early part 
of the season, killed a grouse with each barrel 
out of a pack which rose near me, and then 
slipped in another cartridge, and killed a third. 
But this is only to be done when they are lazy 
and fly slowly, and it cannot be done then unless 



78 FIELD SHOOTING. 

the shooter is very quick. Some men say that 
I am slow because I will not shoot until I have 
sighted the bird; but I think these sort of field- 
shots and my time-matches at pigeons are suffi- 
cient to prove the contrary. I believe I am as 
quick as anybody 1 ever met, but I will not fire 
at random, and 1 advise the reader never to do 
so. Late in the fall, when grouse get up a little 
wild, and fly swiftly, it takes good shooting and 
hard hitting to kill them. Sometimes in No- 
vember, on a clear day and rather warm, they 
lie close, and get up one after the other after 
the first of the pack have gone. There are 
always some lying scattered from the body of 
the pack, and as one falls down, fluttering its 
wings, another will rise, sometimes two. On such 
occasions the immense superiority of the breech- 
loader over the old sort of gun becomes mani- 
fest. 1 have been at such a time shooting with 
a man who used a muzzle-loader, and have 
actually stood in my tracks and shot six grouse 
while he was loading his gun. The grouse will 
sometimes lie so close on a clear day in Novem- 
ber that they will remain hidden until you are 
within ten yards of them, and then get up with 
a tremendous whirr of wings. It is things gf 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 79 

this sort that sportsmen will be glad to know 
and what 1 state is drawn from experience solely 
At the same season of the year, if the weather is 
cloudy and damp, the birds are so wild that 
you cannot get near them ; and to try is to lose 
your time and labor for nothing. The Indian 
Summer is a good time for shooting grouse, and 
very pleasant for the sportsman. The sun has 
not the scorching power which you feel in August 
and the early part of September ; but it is warm, 
the air s<^ft and still, and not very hazy — rather 
like thin, white smoke scattered from a great 
distance. The birds feel comfortable in the 
dead grass of the prairie or among the sod-corn. 
They are fat and lazy, and hate to get up until 
compelled to do so. Any clear, warm day late 
in October or in November is just us good as 
an Indian Summer day. At this season it is 
useless to go out before the dew is off the grass; 
whereas in the earlier part of the shooting the 
more you get into the thick of it at early morn- 
ing, the better for you. The prairies are hand- 
some in the fall of the year, but not so beautiful 
as in the spring, when the grass is about six 
inches high and full of wild flowers. The wea- 
ther is fine, the air pleasant and fragrant. The 



80 FIELD SHOOTING. 

cock-grouse which have Howii out of the bottoms 
at early day are heard booing on the knolls and 
ridges. Hawks of Aarious kinds, large and small, 
are wheeling about overhead, and far away, high 
up iu the distance, you may see the great eagle cir- 
cling and sailing round about with motionless wings. 
But of all the sights I have seen on the prairies, 
the finest, the most striking and glorious, have 
been on bright, frosty mornings in December, or 
later on in the winter sometimes. On such a 
morning, while the frost still hangs on the grass, 
the prairie looks like a wide sea covered with 
sprays of diamond*. The most beautiful sight I 
ever saw in my life was on a prairie at (Oliver's 
Grove, near Chatsworth, Iroquois County, Illinois. 
We went in the night to Chatsworth, where there 
was no house then, intending to hunt turkeys at 
Oliver's Grove at early morning. As there was 
no house at Chatsworth Station, we stayed in the 
car till daylight. It was a bright, clear morning 
in December, and the sun, just risen, lit up all 
the prairie with its horizontal, glancing rays. 
Every blade of grass on the prairie, every tree in 
distant grove, glistened and sparkled like diamonds 
in strong light. Away in the distance, five hun- 
dred yards out upon the [)rairie, there stood two 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. HI 

deer, motionless and beantifuJ, we might almost 
have thought lifeless, they looked so strange in 
that wonderful scene ; only we could see the breath 
streaming from their nostrils into the cold, frosty 
air. For dazzling radLance and strange beauty, I 
never before saw such a prospect, and may per- 
haps never see quite the like again. After a while 
the deer walked leisurely off into the long grass 
and brush near the slough to lie down in cover. 
The game we came for w^ere not to l)e found, and 
when we discovered this we turned to leave. 1 
said to my partner, " We have been disappointed 
in our hunt, but in coming on it we got a glori- 
ous and beautiful sight — one not to be forgotten 
as long as we may live." 

He was a very practical sort of man, and 
replied, "1 had a good deal sooner have got a 
dozen fat turkeys." 

On our way back to Onarga across country 
we had to walk fourteen miles. There were many 
buckwhoat-stubble patches along the prairie in our 
way, and we took them on our road to walk up 
the grouse. We did not diverge to the right or 
left to follow those which went away, but, keeping 
right ahead, got about twenty brace by the time 
we reached Onarga. Although there were no 



82 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



turkeys about Oliver's Grove just then, it was a 
good place for them, and from what 1 saw there 
must have been lots of deer in the neighborhood. 
In regard to grouse-shooting late in the fall of 
the year, there is one thing which should be par- 
ticularly^ observed. It is the necessity of silence. 
There should be very little or no talk indulged 
in between those who are on the beat. In the 
earlier part of the season it does not much matter 
what talk there is, though I am one of those who 
can stand a good deal of silence, when hunting, 
at any time; but late in the fall talking makes 
the grouse get up out of distance. They will rise 
at the sound of the human voice at that season of 
the year sooner than they will at the crack of the 
gun. If two men go along talking and gal)bling, 
as I have seen and heard them do, the grouse 
will nearly all rise out of shot, while they would 
have lain long enough to have afforded many fair 
shots if silence had been preserved. In order not 
to be obliged to talk and call to my dogs at such 
times, I have them broken to hunt to the whistle 
and the motion of the hand. I have had some 
dogs that would hunt all day and never make it 
necessary to speak to them. I have been out with 
men who would talk in spite of remonstrances 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 83 

against it. Either they did not believe it would 
scare up the birds, or it was not in their power 
to keep silent for half an hour at a time. There 
are, indeed, some people who never seem to be 
silent except v^ilen asleep, and very likely not 
then if dreams come over them. On these talk- 
ing occasions late in the fall I have always noticed 
that we got very few grouse. Sometimes when 
I have believed a pack of grouse to be all up, I 
have spoken a word or two to one of the dogs, 
when two or three more birds have risen right 
away. Another thing to be noted is this : when 
you are shooting grouse late in the fall, and the 
dog brings in a wounded one which flutters his 
wings, all the others within hearing will get up. 
That sound sets them on the wing as a man's 
voice does, when they lie close at the loud report 
of the gun. I am not able to explain why this is, 
but so it is. There are many facts in nature in 
regard to the habits of game which the sportsman 
must accept, though he cannot arrive at the 
reason of them. 

At one time in Illinois there was a difference 
as to the period at which grouse-shooting should 
cease. It was left to the counties. In Logan 
County and some others it was fixed for the first 



84 FIELD SHOOTING. 

of January. In other counties where the grouse 
abounded to the degree that the farmers thought 
they consumed too much of the crop, thei'c ^^ as 
no close-time in January. Februarv. and Marcli. 
I do not think grouse ever do any a])])rccial»le 
damage to the crops, W'iiat grain they eat Mould 
be otherwise wasted. They may, howevei-. do 
some little harm by consuming seed-wheat just 
after the sowing. They bite off and eat the Idades 
of young wheat, but that often does more good 
than harm, and farmers sometimes turn calves 
into young wheat-fields to feed it off. The biting 
off done by grouse in the earlier stages has ;i 
tendency to make it stool y/ell, I think. It is cer- 
tain that the pinnated grouse does the farmer good 
by consuming grasshoppers and other insects which 
are troublesome and destructive. The law of Illi- 
nois in regard to shooting grouse is now uniform 
all over the State. The shooting ceases on the 
fifteenth day of January. Thus the shooting lasts 
five months. I am in favor of lopping off fifteen 
days at the commencement, making it September 
1 instead of August 15, and another fifteen 
days at the end, making it cease on the first 
of January, ft would then last four months."^ But 
the duration of the shooting-time is not of so 

♦ The season is now, 1890, Spj)t. 15 t() Nov. 1. 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTIKa. 85 

much importance as many people think. More 
are taken by trapping kite in the season. To see 
the huge loads of grouse sent by railway to Chicago 
and on for the Eastern market, one would Ije at first 
inclined to suppose that the species must soon be 
extirpated; but this Is an en^jr. With good breed- 
ing-places and a fine spring the munber of grouse 
produced is incalculable. N<j amount of fair 
shooting makes much impression on game i)i a 
good game country. In places where the game is 
sparse, as it appears to me to be in the Atlantic 
and Eastern States, save water-fowl on the sea-ljoard, 
many guns may shoot so close that the propter 
head for a breeding-stock will not be left. It 
is altogether different with us. I went once to 
Christian County, Illinois, and shot round about the 
little town of Assumption from February 1 to 
May 20, the latter part of the time being on 
snipe. The game of all sorts was amazingly 
abundant. There was a great plenty of grouse and 
quail, and the number of ducks and geese was 
almost past belief. It is a varied sort of <-ouii- 
try with a good deal of low, wet ground, much 
prairie and much com-Iand, and a great deal of 
hazel-brush along the creeks and ou the edges of 
the groves of tinil)ei-. It is a s|)lendid country for 



86 FIELD SHOOTING. 

game. I killed six thousand head of all sorts while 
there — the most part, of course, being duck, snipe, 
and golden plover. The grouse were extremely 
abundant in the spring about there. At early 
morning the cock-grouse could be heard booming all 
over, like the constant lowing of an immense herd 
of cattle distributed in a great pasture. It is hardly 
necessary to say that the booming of the grouse is 
not like the lowing of bullocks; what 1 mean is 
that the booming on every side pervaded the space 
all around. Christian County is about thirty miles 
southeast of Springfield, and is on the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad. At this time I hold the best place 
for sport of all sorts in the field to be in the 
tier of counties which includes Ford, Piatt, McLean, 
and Champagne Counties, as well as Christian 
County. Late in the fall, however, good grouse- 
shooting is to be met \^ ith all over the State, un- 
less it be down southwest in Egypt, where there 
is but little prairie-land. As I have stated, great 
numbers of grouse are Invd in the wide prai- 
ries which are still unbroken, and late in the 
fall these grouse pack and distri})ute themselves 
over the other parts of the State in vast numbers, 
feeding in corn-fields and wheat, oat, and buckwheat 
stubbles. Where I live the grouse are nearly as 



LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 8* 

abuudaiit in the latter part of the fall now as they 
were seventeen years ago. Perhaps I might say 
quite as abundant ; Init there is not anything 
like as many young grouse to be found in that 
neighborhood in August and September as there 
used to be. As long as the breeding-places re- 
main it is safe to conclude that there will never 
be a scarcity of grouse in Illinois and the other 
prairie States. But though they are nearly as 
numerous, they are more difficult t^ kill than for- 
merly. The young birds find the great corn-fields 
a place of safe refuge ; and when the packs come in 
from the great prairies late in the fall, they are 
wild and swift. To get good sport the observa 
tions I have made as to weather, the best hours 
of the day at the different seasons, and so on, 
should be carefully heeded. The burning of pieces 
of prairie late in the spring should be avoided, and 
it can easily be done. Let the grass be burnt the 
preceding fall, or, which is perhaps still more desira- 
ble, early in the spring. In the latter case the grass 
would have sprung up in places high enough to 
hold the nests before the hen-birds wanted to form 
them, besides which there are always many places 
\mtouched by the fire, and these spots would be 
hosen by the grouse to make their nests in. By 



88 FIELD SHOOTING. 

leaving the grass unburnt througli the av inter the 
l)irds wouhl he afforded a protection in that season 
against their enemies — the various sorts of hawks, 
Avhich are very numerous in the prair'e States. 
The great source of mischief is the burning of thi^ 
grass after the nests are made. I hope the farm- 
ers will follow my suggestions on this point. They 
are commonly ready to oblige sportsmen, and the 
latter should avoid anything which may cause an- 
noyance while in pursuit of game. 



CHAPTER V. 

QUAIL-SIIOOTIXG tX THE WEST. 

The beautitiil little game-bird of which 1 am 
now about to write is well known in almost all 
parts of the country, it is a welcome visitor 
alxjut the homesteads of the farmer in the win- 
ter season, and makes pleasant the fields and 
brakes in spring and summer. Quail are now 
very al)undant in the Western States, much more 
so, I believe, than in those of the Atlantic sea- 
board, although they are found in considerable 
numbers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia. They are much more nu- 
merous now in Illinois and the other prairie 
States than they were formerly. [ think the cul- 
tivation of the land and the growth of Osage 
orange hedges have brought about the increase. 
The hedges furnish excellent nesting-places, and 
are also of great use to the quail as places of 
refuge and security when pursued by hawks. The 
latter are very hard on quail. Quail like the 
neighborhood of cultivated land, and where they 



90 FIELD SHOOTING. 

are not much shot at they will get so tame as 
to come right up to the house and barn. They 
used to have a very hard time of it in Illinois 
in severe winters. Ihere was no protection from 
hawks, by which they we-re constantly harried and 
destroyed ; and there being next to no cover, they 
used to be frozen to death in bevies. When the 
snow melted, the skeletons and feathers would be 
found in groups of eight or ten. The hedges 
now afford very great protection in severe wea- 
ther, and preserve the lives of thousands which 
would otherwise certainly perish of cold and 
starvation in their absence. They break the force 
of the wqnd, and furnish snug-lying places for the 
birds in hard weather. In soft snow quail com- 
monly manage to do very well in the open. 
When pursued by hawks at such times, they dart 
under the snow, and lie safely hid from their 
voracious enemies. I have seen them do this 
hundreds of times, and have rejoiced at their 
escape from the talons of the swift and perse- 
vering foe. In two or three instances I have 
walked up and caught the quail which had thus 
dashed into the yielding snow by hand. The 
quail is a very interesting bird about breeding- 
time, and the soft, whistling note of the cock is 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 91 

one of the pleasantest things that strike the ear in 
the fields in spring-time. They pair with us about 
the first of May. I have seen them together in 
bevies as late as, or later than, the middle of April. 
They build their nests along the hedges and near 
old fences overgrown with brush and brambles. 
They resort but little to the groves of timber 
for breeding purposes, avoiding them, 1 think, on 
account of egg-sucking vermin, such as skunks and 
crows. Crows are bold, cunning, and persistent 
robbers of the nests of other birds. Minks catch 
the old hens on the nest, and raccoons do the 
same. But the most destructive and inveterate 
enemy the quail has is the little hawk, called 
with us the quail-hawk. This little bird of prey 
is but a trifle larger than a quail himself, but it 
is very fierce and strong, swift on the wing, and 
darts upon its prey with electric speed. The nest 
of the quail is round, nicely constructed of small 
twigs, and lined with dead grass. I have seen 
statements to the effect that they are covered 
over on the top. I have found hundreds of them, 
and never saw one that was. The hen lays from 
twelve to fifteen eggs, but two hens sometimes 
lay in one nest, and 1 have seen one in which 
there were no less than thirty eggs. The hen- 



93 FIELD SHOOTING. 

quail does not seem to be very particular at times 
about having a nest of her own. I have known 
them to lay in the nests of pinnated grouse, and in 
those of barn-door fowl which had made their nests 
hi hedges or bunches in weeds in fence-corners. It is 
always easy to learn when quail are breeding in the 
neighborhood, for at such times as the hen is laying 
or sitting the cock perches on a fence, a stump, 
or an old corn.stock, cind whistles for joy. The 
note seems to express great satisfaction and de- 
light. The young quail are no sooner hatched 
than they are- active and ready to follow their 
mother. The latter is very watchful, attentive, 
and devoted, ready to risk her own life to afford 
a chance of safety to her offspring. If a man or a 
dog approaches the whereabouts of her young brood, 
the mother simulates lameness, and flutters about 
as if in a crippled condition, to lead the intruder 
another way. The early l^roods come oif about 
the middle of June, when, the spring being for- 
ward, the birds have paired early. I saw young 
quail and young grouse this year myself in the 
middle of June. It is my impression that when 
the season is early and other circumstances favor- 
able, the hen-quail raises two broods. I have 
often seen early broods under the care of the 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 93 

cock, and I think the hen was then sitting again. 
Furthermore, later in the year bevies of quail 
will be found in which there are manifestly birds 
of two sizes besides the old ones. These bevies 
must be made up of young quail of different ages. 
I am not certain as to the hen bringing forth a 
second brood while the first is under the care of 
the cock, but I state the facts I have seen for 
what they are worth. There is nothing improba- 
ble, to my mind,, in the raising of two broods a 
year. The hen-quail is very prolific of eggs ; 
food is abundant and stimulating at the breed- 
ing season ; the weather is commonly steadily 
fine when the first brood is brought off, and the 
cock-bird is abundantly able to take care of it. 
In the State of Illinois quail-shooting begins on 
the first of October. I think the law ought to 
be changed so that it should not commence 
before the fifteenth of October. On the first of 
October some birds are full grown, but it is 
otherwise with the great majority of the young 
birds. Quail are a little slower in growth - than 
pinnated grouse, and it is not before the fif- 
teenth of October that most of the birds are 
large, strong, and swift of wing. In Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other 



d4 FIELD SHOOTING. 

wheat-growing States, there is very fine quail- 
shooting sooner in the season than there is in 
Illinois. With us the best shooting cannot be 
enjoyed until late in the fall. Before that time 
the immense corn-fields enable the quail to get 
the best of the sportsman. As soon as a bevy 
is flushed away it goes for the corn, which is 
thick, broad in the blade, and very high. 1 
stand six feet in height, and I have seen stalks 
of Illinois corn so tall that I could but just reach 
the lowest ears upon them. There is no making 
headway and filling the bag in such fields as 
these ; and the moment the quail are flushed on 
the wheat and oat stubbles away they go for 
the corn. You may give them up as soon as 
they reach this tall, thick, and dense cover. If 
you make an attempt at them in it, they will 
not rise above the tops, so that you cannot see 
to shoot ; besides which, the thickest spread of 
the broad blades is just al)out as high as your 
head, and above it. It is not until good, sharp 
frosts have well wilted the blades and caused them 
t© hang down lifeless along the stalk that there 
is a good chance at the quail in such places. 
As long as the leaves wave crisp in the autumn 
wind the quail may defy the shooter. Therefor* 



QUAIL SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 95 

the best of the shooting is in November and De- 
cember. Yon must be np by rlawn of day, an(^ 
scatter the hoar frost or the sparkling dew as you 
go to yonr chosen gromids. In a conntry where 
there are mall^' stubbles, many corn-fields, and 
much hazel-briisli the ([nail delight, and there, 
on such a morning, as soon as the sini has risen 
over the swells of the prairies to \\\v eastward, 
they will be found in abundance. They roost 
along the margins of slonghs in long grass, in 
stubbles where the rag- weed is thick and strong, in 
patches of In-ush, and along hedge-rows. Where 
there are corn-fields along the margin of sloughs, the 
quail are fond of roosting in the edges of the 
corn. As soon as the sun touches the ti'ost on the 
corn and grass and the weeds of the overgro>¥ii 
stubbles, the quail begin to run from their roost- 
ing-places. At the early hours, when they are 
first on the move, is the best time for the dogs 
to find them, as the scent is then very good. When 
they are really plentiful, they may be easily found 
in any w^eather, but most easily on a fine, clear day, 
early iia the crisp, cool air of the bright, frosty 
morning. When a bevy is flushed in such weather 
as this, they scatter at once, and when they pitch 
down they lie there hid under the first bunch of 



96 



FIELD SHOOTING 



grass or weed or any other bit of cover they can 
find for the purpose of concealment. With good 
dogs you can then take them one after the other. 
When a bevy has been flushed, and the birds have 
scattered about and pitched down in this way, I 
have often killed from six to ten before picking 
any up. I was once shooting in Mason County, 
Illinois, late in the fall, and flushed a very large 
bevy of quail from a wheat-stubble. They scat- 
tered and flew over into a piece of prairie-grass, 
where they pitched down. I knew they would lie 
very close, and so they did. They got up one 
and two at a time, and out of the bevy I accounted 
there and then for seven brace and a half. Quail 
pack late in the fall, and in Mason County at that 
time there were bevies of thirty or forty in num- 
ber. In damp or wet weather quail act in a dif- 
ferent manner when flushed and scattered. At 
such times, instead of lying where they pitch 
down, they run a long distance. And then when 
the dog has winded them, and is about to point, 
or has pointed, they start and run on again. Under 
such circumstances it is difficult to make a good 
bag. It was mainly in such we;jther that the net- 
ting of quail was carried on. This bad practice is 
now unlawful. I saw great numbers caught with 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 97 

nets in Missouri. Whole bevies were taken at 
one fell swoop, the quail being driven into the 
wings of the net by men on horseback. It is a 
very good thing that this destructive practice has 
been prohibited by law, and is now wholly done 
away with. As long as it was lawful the farmers 
on whose land it was practised did not like to 
interfere ; but now they do interfere, and netting 
in Illinois and Missouri has practically ceased and 
come to an end. When it was lawful, two netters 
were harder on the quail than about two hundred 
shooters, although at that time some of the latter 
who Avere apt to miss a bird on the wing would 
fire at bevies of quail on the ground. This is 
not a practice to be followed. I have taken two 
or three raking shots at grouse sitting on fences 
in my time, but the opportunity was so rare 
and the temptation so great that it was just then 
irresistible. 

The best quail-shooting I ever had was in the 
Sangamon River country, about where Salt Creek 
falls into it. There is upon Salt Creek and the 
Sangamon a great deal of bottom-land with much 
hazel-brush and considerable timber. There are 
also plenty of corn-fields. The shooting there is 
much varied. There are vast numbers of quail, a 



98 FIELD SHOOTING. 

great inanv grouse, and at the right times snipe 
and duck are to be tbund in amazing numbers. 
When I used to go out in that neighborhood for 
the purpose of shooting, quail especially, I used to 
get from twenty to thirty brace a day for many 
days in succession. Varied shooting, however, is 
more satisfactory sport to me, and 1 used to make 
very heavy bags of grouse, quail, and some duck 
— mallards and teal. It is a great place for mal- 
lards; some of them stop all summer and breed 
there, and some stoji all winter, for there are 
parts of the river which hardly ever freeze over. 
Quail are more abundant about there now than 
.they were at the time I speak of, and there are 
quite as many grouse ; but they are both more 
difficult to kill than they used to be in the earlier 
part of the season. The corn-fields have increased 
so that they are now many and vast, and this 
serves as a defence for the birds. There are more 
quail in that country this year than there ever 
were before. There are now, however, plenty of 
quail all over Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. In the 
southwest of Illinois, the region called Egypt, 
there is a great deal of brush interspersed with 
prairie, farm-lands, and groves of timber, and there 
quail may be found in great abundance. But 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 99 

grouse are not as plentiful there as in the interior 
counties of the State. 

Some people think the quail a iiard Ijird to 
shoot, but it is not. It flies swift but straight, 
and is commonly missed l)y reason of the shooter 
being too much in a hurry where it is not brought 
to bag. Because the flight of the bird when 
flushed is rapid, men think it necessary to shoot 
very quick, and pull the trigger without sighting 
the mark truly. This is an error to which three out 
of four misses are owing. Let the bird be well 
sighted along the rib before the trigger is pulled, 
and, no matter how fast he goes, the shot will 
overtake and stop him. Quail will not carry ofl" 
a great many shot. There is no necessity for 
hurry in shooting, and this will be made manifest 
to sportsmen if they will sometimes step the 
ground from where they fired to the dead bird. 
They will find that in nine eases out of ten it 
was not as far oflf as they believed it to be when 
they fired at it. Many of those thought to be 
as much as forty yards oflf when the trigger was 
pulled will be found dead at thirty yards, and 
some at five-and-twenty. This shows that there 
is commonly plenty of time to get well on the 
bird before shooting, instead of blazing away on the 



100 FIELD SHOOTING. 

instant at random. I have shot thousands on thou^ 
sands myself, and know that my misses were com- 
monly caused l>y hcing in too much of a liurry to 
fire. 'sVlicii I ha\r missed with the first and killed 
with the sL'ccjud Ijarrel, I have considered it a 
plain jjroof that 1 ought to have let another 
second elajjse betbre firing the first barrel ; for 
if a bird, flying in the open straight away, or 
quartering, is well sighted with a good gun pro- 
])erly charged, it is next kin to a miracle for it 
to escape. After good experience I resolved to 
take more time in quail-shooting, and I have 
found the practice answer. 1 can now kill nearly 
every quail 1 shoot at within fiiir distance. Quail 
generally lie close to the dog when they will lie 
at all well, and do not get up until the shooter is 
near them. The experience of sportsmen will 
confirm this, and it will .show that there is no 
reason whatever for shooting in a hurried man- 
ner, but very strong reasons for guarding against 
it. By taking time you not only get the bird 
well sighted, but the extra distance it has gone 
gives the shot so much more chance to spread, 
and thus increases the chance to kill. 

A few years ago, after the close of the war, 1 
went, in the middle of January, on a shooting 



QUAIL-SHOOTING TV THE AVEST. 101 

(-xcursioii to Lynn (A)iiuty. Missouri. J hunted (»n 
Shual Creek, in the neighborhood of Camerou, a 
place about fifty miles east of St. Joseph, on 
the Missouri Ei\er. It was a good place for 
game. ■ There were t|uail, pinnated grouse, some 
ruffed grouse, turkeys and deei- in large numl)ers. 
1 killed many turkeys and a few deer; ])Ut of 
these i shall give some account further on. under 
the proper heads. The country , is wild and 
broken, with much brush and timber, and al)Ounds 
in gullies, deep liollows. and steej) ravines. The 
bevies, when flushed, would frequently Hy for 
the thickets and gullies, and then it was difticult 
shooting. Sometimes, however, they would scat- 
ter and drop in the grass of the pieces of ])rairie, 
and then I had beautiful sport, killing from 
twenty to thirty brace a day. The pinnated 
grouse were not numerous about there, hut the 
ruflfed grouse were in fair numbers for them. 
Iowa is a good State for quail. There are more 
groves of timber and more brush there than in 
Illinois, but the latter is much the best State for 
pinnated grouse, and the growing up of the Osage 
orange hedges has supplied in many parts the 
want of brush, and thus increased the head of 
quail. When flushed in the open, the birds very 



102 FIELD SHOOTING. 

often go foi" tlie hedges, and then a great deal 
may be done with a gun on each side of the 
hedge while the dogs are beating it. One man 
eannot do much with the quail when they take 
this refuge. Some of these hedges are eight or 
ten feet high; others have been so trimmed as 
to be four feet through and thick of growth. 
With a man on each side of fhe hedge there is 
very pretty scooting. If you are out without a 
companion, and the quail take to the hedges, you 
may trust one side to an old, well-trained dog, 
and take the other yourself Always send the 
dog to the lee side. If you have a companion, 
and he leaves to you the choice of sides, as most 
men will do, not knowing that it nuikes any differ- 
ence, always take the windward side. By so doing 
you will get three or four shots to your com 
panion's one when the wind is blowing athwart, ct 
nearly athwart, the hedge. The reason is very 
simple, though seldom thought of The dog to lee- 
ward winds the quail in the hedge, and, as a mat- 
ter of course, puts them out on the windward side ; 
while the scent is blown away from the dog on 
your side. 1 have been out with men who did 
not understand this, and they would say, " Cap- 
tain, what the d — 1 makes almost all the quail fly 



QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 103 

out on your side of the hedge ? ** Half the suc- 
cess of sporting, outside of being a good shot, 
depends upon the knowledge of such things as 
this. There is another matter to be mentioned 
here. The best dogs in the world are sometimes 
unable to find and put up all the birds in a 
bevy of quail. I have often been out with men 
who had first-rate dogs, and have, t<^ their 
amazement, given them absolute and irrefragable 
proof of this fact. They have been not a little 
annoyed at first when they saw me put up quail 
which their dogs had been unable to find after 
the bevy was gone. But it was no fault of the 
dogs, nor were they unable to detect the quail 
because the latter withheld their scent, as some 
have argued they have power to do. I do not 
believe they possess any such power. It is not 
a question of no scent, but of too much. The bevy 
have been lying there and running all over the 
ground, so that it is covered and tainted with 
scent to such a degree that the noses of the dogs 
become full of it, and that is why they cannot 
find and put up one or two birds which lie close 
in their hiding-places and decline to move. 1 
will n<nv relate a notable instance of this sort of 
thing which occurred last fall, It w^s near Selma, 



104 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Alabama, in the neighborhood of which city 1 was 
shooting with a gentleman named Ellis and Mr. 
Jacobs, a gunsmith. On the day in question Mr. 
Jacobs did not take the field, and Mr. Ellis and 
I were alone. He had a brace of splendid set- 
ters, a l^lack and a red. For one of the dogs 
he had paid two hundred and fifty dollars, and 
he would not have taken five hundred for the 
brace. They had fine noses and were splendid 
workers. In the course of our sport we found a 
bevy of quail in old grass at the edge of a bit 
of prairie which had once been ploughed up, and 
was now an old garden all overgrown with weeds 
and briers. The quail ran in the grass, but 
finally got up together. Mr. Ellis killed two and 
I killed two. A few went away, and were marked, 
down at some distance. Mr. Ellis believed they 
w^ere all gone. The dogs beat the ground tho- 
roughly, and could find no more. I said that 1 
believed there might be more, upon which Mr. 
Ellis made his dogs try it again, and then con- 
fidently pronounced that there could not be an- 
other quail there. I said, " I still think there may 
be quail here and I will show you how to make 
them rise if there are any." With that I imitated 
the kind of whistling noise made by the old quail 



QUAIL-SHUOTING IN THE WEST. lOo 

when she has young ones. Up got one, and Mr. Ellis 
killed it ; away went another, and I stopped it. Mr. 
Ellis was greatly astonished, and did not know what 
to make of it. I explained the matter, telling him 
that if the dogs had been taken oft' to another part 
of the field, and kept there long enough for the 
old scent to have exhaled from the ground and 
passed away, they would have found the two 
quail readily enough when brought back to the 
place. The ground was so saturated with scent 
that the dogs could not distinguish that of the 
remaining birds, and could not put them up \\ith- 
out stumbling right on them. 1 have often seen 
the same thing happen with a close-lying lot of 
pimiated grouse in long prairie-grass. 1 do not 
believe in the theory advanced by swne that quail 
or any other game-bird can withhold their scent so 
as to prevent a good dog from winding them when 
he comes near. I had fair sport in the South last 
fall, principally at quail, round the cotton-fields, 
but there seemed to be a scarcity of game. There 
was not one quail to a hundred which would have 
been found in good situations in Illinois. I was in 
Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, 
and nowhere was game in what we should call fair 
plenty in the West. At Paris, Tennessee, they 



106 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



held the erroneous opinion that a pigeon-shooter 
could not be a good field shot. They said they 
had a man who could beat any pigeon-shooter in 
the field. 1 told them to send for him, as 1 was 
willing to shoot against him for a hundred dollars, 
fifty shots each, to be taken alternately. They would 
not make the match. In Mississippi I shot with 
Mr. Galbraith. The birds were scarce and wild. 
There were more about Selma than any other place 
I w^as at. So far as my experience went, the shoot- 
ing w^as nothing to that which may be had in Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Min- 
nesota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, etc. There 
were as fine a lot of gentlemen in the South as I 
have ever met, and they were good shots and keen 
sportsmen. 



CHAPTER VI. 



RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 



Hitherto we have been concerned with the sport 
to be had in pursuit of game-birds, pinnated grouse, 
and quail, which are found in the neighborhood of 
cultivated farms, and, as regards the latter, often 
in the immediate vicinity of the habitations of man. 
We now come to one whose favorite haunts are 
wild, solitary places not frequently intruded upon, 
and almost always lying remote from thickly- 
settled sections of country. The ruffed grouse is a 
very handsome bird, and in situations where it is 
seldom shot at it seems to take a sort of pride in 
exhibiting its beauty in a stately and graceful 
manner. It weighs about a pound and a half; is 
plump on the breast; and its flesh, white, juicy, 
and delicate, is delicious eating. It is usually half 
spoiled in city restaurants by splitting and broiling. 
It ought to be roasted and served with bread-sauce. 
The ruffed grouse is extensively distributed from 
east to west, but is nowhere found in any great 

107 



108 FIELD SHOOTINO. 

abundance. Its habits are not nearly so gregarious as 
those of the pinnated grouse, and no such multitudes 
are to l)e found anywhere of ruffed grouse as niay 
often be met with of the former species in the 
great prairie States. The ruffed grouse is but 
seldom found in coveys, though sometimes a l^rood 
of full-grown birds are found still together in 
some lonely nook among the woodlands, or in a 
solitary, sheltered spot in severe M^inter weather. 
It is generally found singly or in pairs, and 
loves sylvan solitudes, steep hillsides, wooded 
dells, and the neighborhood of gullies and ravines. 
The rougher and more broken the country, the 
better the ruffed grouse like it. jn-ovided It is 
well timbered with the trees and well covered 
with the shrubs upon ^^hose buds the birds 
mainly feed. It is. however, often met with in 
the dee}>, hea\'ily-timbered bottom-lands of the 
northwest part of Michigan. The l)uds of birch, 
beech, and laurel (so-called) are the favorite food 
of this l)ird in winter and spring. In summer 
it no doubt feeds largely on l^erries and insects. 
I do not think it ever visits tlie stubble-lands 
to pick up wheat and buckwheat, though there 
are some such bits of stubble in the very heart 
of the woods in which it is constantlv but thinlv 



RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. ] 01^ 

found. Ill the New England States it is met 
with, and is sparsely distributed in New York 
and New^ Jersey. In some of the wild, half- 
mountainous tracts of New Jersey, where the 
undergrowth consists largely of laurel, it is more 
abundant. It is also frequently met with in 
West Virginia. In Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illi 
nois, Missouri, and Iowa the ruffed grouse is 
also found ; but so far as my knowledge and 
experience go, it is most abundant of all in 
some parts of Wisconsin and the northwest part 
of the lower peninsula of Michigan. It is said 
fhat the buds of the laurel and some of the 
l»erries upon which the ruffed grouse feed have 
n tendency to make the flesh poisonous. I can- 
iKTt confirm the theory, though T have eaten many 
.1 grouse whoso crop was full of the buds in 
question wdien drawn. In general appearance it 
has some resemblance to the pinnated grouse, but 
is a smaller bird, with a long, square tail, very 
full feathered, which it carries over the fallen 
leaves and mossy sward among the timber with 
a conscious pride and a swelling, strutting gait 
in places where it is little disturbed. It is. in 
fact, a beautiful ornament to the romantic soli- 
tudes and deep, heavy woods which it inhabits. 



ilO FIELD SHOOTINa 

In places where it is seldom shot at, the bird, 
at the approach of man, instead of taking wing, 
often spreads its tail, ruffles up the feathers of 
the neck, and struts off with the proud air of 
the true cock of the woods. In the spring of the 
year, at the approach of breeding-time, and at 
other seasons just before stormy, rainy weather, 
the male bird drums at dawn of day. It may 
sometimes, too, be heard performing this singu- 
lar feat in the night, and on a sultry afternoon 
when a thunder-storm is brewing. The drumming 
is usually made on an old log, and each male 
bird seems to have his favorite place for the 
joyous performance. He begins by lowering his 
wings as he walks to and fro on the log, then 
making some hard strokes at intervals, and finally 
so increasing the swiftness of the movement that 
the sound is like the rapid roll of a snare-drum 
muffled by a position in the depths of the woods. 
The sound is very deceptive as to the place of 
the bird. He may be comparatively Hear, while 
his drumming really seems like muttered thunder 
a long w\ay off. On the other hand, the hearer 
sometimes supposes the hidden drummer to be 
close at hand when he is at a very considerable 
distance. In wild situations, near lonely preci- 



RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. Ill 

pices, the beating of the ruffed grouse upon his 
log may remind one of Macdonald's phantom 
drummer, whose story was beautifully and forcibly 
told in verse by General William H. Lytle, 
who fell, covered with glory and renown, at 
Chickamauga : 

•* And still belated peasants tell 

How, near that Alpine height, 
They hear a drum roll loud and clear 

On many a storm- vexed night. 
This story of the olden time 

With sad eyes they repeat. 
And whisper by whose ghostly hands 

The spirit-drum is beat." 

I have often seen the tops of old logs divested 
of their mosses and worn smooth by the constant 
drumming of the cock ruffed grouse, and have 
stood within thirty yards and seen the bird per- 
form the operation. Just before rain the grouse 
drum frequently, and the repetition of this sound 
from various quarters in the daytime is a pretty 
certain indication of the near approach of wet 
weather. The female builds in the Western 
States about the first of May. The nest is 
formed of leaves and dead grass, and is built in 



112 FIELD SHOOTING. 

a secluded place at the root of a tree or stump, 
or by the side of an old, mossy log over- 
grown with blackberry briers. The hen lays 
from twelve to fifteen eggs, and when first 
hatched the chicks are the most beautiful, cunning, 
and alert little things that can be seen any- 
where. The editor of this work had an excellent 
opportunity for observing them and their watchful, 
devoted mothers on one well-remembered occa- 
sion. Nearly thirty years ago he was upon an 
exploring expedition in the northwest part of the 
lower peninsula of Michigan. The country was 
then \'ery thinly settled about there. A few 
men liad with much lal)or hewn out little clear- 
ings in the lu'nvy-timl)ered woods in [daces on the 
banks of j-ivers, but the great industry was log- 
ging in the pine-woods, splitting shingles, and 
fishing during the spring freshets, when the low- 
lands and wet prairies were literally covered 
Mith pickerel. The ridges wei-e thickly timbered 
with beech and maple where, not covered with 
pine, and the l)ottom-lands were clothed with 
gigantic oak, black-walnut, basswood, hickory, 
and butternut trees. It was a country Avatered 
by a network of rivers, whi(?h united to form 
the Saginaw, soon after which junction the latter fell 



RUFFED-trROUSE SHOOTING 



113 



into the bay of the same name in Lake Hnron. 
We started in canoes, well provided with provi- 
sions, arms, and ammunition, and paddled for the 
mouth of the Cass. It was in June, and the 
young flappers (wild ducks) were swarming in 
the rivers. Above the bend of the Cass we 
made our first camp. The region was then very 
wild. Deer abounded, aud the wolves howled 
hideously around the camp at night. We treed 
two or three wild- cats, and shot them with 
rifles. We had no shot-guns. A band of Chip- 
pewa Indians were encamped near us. The men 
«^f the tril)e lived by hunting and fishing with the 
spear. The women and girls made money by 
gathering ci-ajibcrries in the marshes when the 
wild fruit was i-ipc. These Indians assured us 
that a few elk were still left in the great woods 
which here surrounded our party, and they said 
that in the fall tliei-e were lots of l)ears. It was 
just the hatching-time (.f the rutfe<l grouse, 
which we found mniierous in the l)ottoms among 
the heavy timbei-. They had seldom been mo- 
lested, and were not very shy, but rather bold 
and fearless. One day we cut down a butternut- 
tree, wanting it to make a temporary bridge 
across a creek, and. ha\ ing lopped the top, went 



114 FIELD SHOOTING. 

to our tent to dinner. On our return we came 
upon a hen-grouse with a brood of young newly 
hatched. Uttering a cry, she scuffled and fluttered 
about at our feet with the most motherly cour- 
age and devotion, behaving as if she were wounded, 
in order to draw us ofl*. But we had seen her 
young ones run under the leaves of the fallen 
butternut-tree, and caught two or three of them. 
They were beautiful downy little things, and 
watched us intently with their bright eyes. The 
mother, stimulated by alarm, remained near us 
while we held her young after the others had 
scuffled off, and we had the ])leasure of placing 
the little things on the ground again, and seeing 
them hide in the cover. We walked away to a 
distance, and soon heard the mother calling her 
brood of little ones to the shelter of her protec- 
tion. The young are very quick and cunning at 
concealment. As soon as they hear the mother's 
warning cry they dart into cover, and, if there is 
no other at hand, they will seize a leaf with bill 
and feet, and turn over so that it may conceal 
them. While the party remained above the bend 
of the Cass river there came up a tremendous 
thunder-storm, followed by a cold wind from Lake 
Huron. Previous to the storm the cock ruffed 



RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 115 

grouse could be heard drumming in all directions. 
It is a flat, alluvial country, much of the bottom- 
land being overflowed early in spring, as all the 
wet prairies thereabouts are ; but, nevertheless, 
these bottoms abounded with grouse in the breed- 
ing-season. 

The ruflfed grouse can seldom be relied upon to 
fill the game-bag alone ; for the most part it is 
sparsely and thinly distributed over the regions it 
inhabits, though in some secluded spots where 
they have not been disturbed a good number may 
sometimes be killed in the fall before the broods 
have dispersed. It is as wild in disposition as 
any bird that flies. The young of the pinnated 
grouse may be brought up in confinement, but I 
do not think those of the rufted grouse can be 
reared in the same way. I began to shoot ruflfed 
grouse, when still a boy, in the neighborhood of 
Burnville, Albany County, New York, in company 
with a man named Paul Hochstosser. He was a 
hunter by calling, and a good one, well versed in 
the woodcraft of the region, and the best shot 
with the double-barrelled gun then in those parts. 
The first bird I ever killed was a ruflfed grouse 
perched in a hemlock-tree. He was on an arm 
close to the trunk of the tree, bolt upright, with 



116 FIELD SHOOTING. 

his neck stretched up. This is their habit when 
they take to trees, and they are not easily distin- 
guished from knots. 1 knew their habits, and 
had good eyes. That day I had played truant 
from school, and, taking my lather's old firelock, I 
went out to hunt. The greater part of the day 
was gone before 1 got one of the birds I saw in a 
proper sitting position. However, there he was at 
last, and as [ was too small to hold the musket 
out and take aim from the shoulder alone, I 
steadied it against the bole of another tree. Bang 
she went, and down came the grouse, but only 
winged. There was snow on the ground, and, boy- 
like, I dropped the old musket into it, and went 
for the wounded grouse. The ground was a steep 
hillside, the bird fluttered down it, and I went 
after, tumbling and rolling for as much as a hun- 
dred yards. But I secured it at last, and thinking 
it was glory enough for one day, as the saying is, 
1 recovered the old musket and returned home. 
The truancy was condoned because of the bird. 
After that I hunted every time I could get a 
chance to do so. 1 soon got hold of a single-bar- 
relled gun with a percussion-lock. and. by perse- 
verance for some time learned to shoot on the 
wing. Paul was a gi-eat woodcock-shooter, and 



KUFFED-GKOUSK SHOOTING. Ill 

Nve sonietiiiies shot in company. In going after 
ruffed grouse in those days we used to take a 
small spaniel dog, which would flush them out of 
the brush, and cause them to take to the trees. 
They are not easy to distinguish, as 1 said before, 
when on the tree, from their sitting upright close 
to the trunk, their plumage being somewhat the 
color of the bark. This habit must be remem- 
bered by the sportsman when he believes the bird 
is treed, but is unable to make him out. When 
several ha> c taken t(j the same tree, shoot the one 
which sits lowest first, and the others will not 
take wing. K the upper one is shot, its fall starts 
the others off. More ruffed grouse are shot sit- 
ting than flying. It is a ^ery hard bird to shoot 
on the wing — hard to hit and hard to kill. Other 
birds, when flushed in woodland, fly for the openings 
in the trees ; the ruffed grouse, on the contrary, 
plunges right into the densest part of the thicket. 
The man who commonly^ kills the ruffed grouse ho 
shoots at on the wing is fit to hold his own at any 
sort of shooting on the wing. The liird com- 
monly rises in difficult ground with a whirr like 
the sudden roar of a Avaterfall, and goes away 
at electric pace for the thickest part of the brake. 
The birds v> ere scarce in Albany County, IS' ^w 



118 FIELD SHOOTIN(4. 

York. The most 1 oyer killed in a day there 
was six. In Cook County, Illinois, I have killed 
fifteen in a day. In Missouri, on Shoal Creek, 
when I was hunting turkeys, I found ruffed grouse 
in fair numbers, considering the nature and habits 
of the l)ird, and killed forty or fifty in the 
three weeks I staye<l there. Of all the places 
I know, the ruffed grouse arc most plentiful in 
the timber-lands of Wisconsin and Minnesota and 
the upper part of Michigan. But it is a bird of 
very secluded habits, mikI when settlements have 
become thick and much ot' the timber has been 
cleared off, it disappears. A well-watered timber 
country, with plenty of thick underbrush among rifls 
and gullies, is the itliice to look for it as a com- 
mon rule, though they are also found, in the great 
woods of heavy-timbered bottom-land. In looking 
for ruffed grouse especially I use No. S shot, and, 
if I found them wliile turkey-shooting, I changed the 
cartridge. I do not use spaniels now, but shoot 
ruffed grouse over setters. They will lie pretty well 
to the dogs sometimes, and where not shot at will 
sometimes strut off in front of him in plain sight. 
When shot at much and wild, the ruffed grouse must 
be pointed by the dog from a considerable distance. 
It will not let him get close, and as soon as the 



RUFFID-OROUSE SHOOTING. 119 

setter moves a step tor ward the grouse springs 
up and goes away like a bullet for the thickest 
part of the cover. I have seen stories in print of 
ruffed grouse taking to water, of its being caught 
and let go, and then caught again. I do not be- 
lieve one word of such things. The man who 
invented them can knoM' but little of the nature 
and habits of this very wild bird. In the deep 
snows of winter the ruffed grouse roost under the 
snow. They dart at it with great speed, and 
make a sort of burrow beneath the surface. At 
other times they roost on the ground. When out 
coon-hunting at night, I have often put them up 
from their roosts on the ground. It has been 
maintained that they sometimes roost in trees ; 
and as they certainly take to trees readily enough 
when flushed by a barking dog, and feed on the 
buds of trees, it seems reasonable to believe that 
they may sometimes roost in them. On the other 
hand, many men of experience declare that they 
7iever roost in trees. I have often seen them in 
trees very early in the morning, but it was out at 
the ends of the branches, feeding on the young 
buds. I will not positively aflirm that the ruffed 
grouse never roosts in trees, but 1 think it never 
does so when it can help it. In very severe weather, 



120 FIELD SHOOTING. 

when the crust upon the snow is too strong to l>e 
pierced, the bird may seek shelter under the 
thick boughs of pines, and close to the trunk on 
the leeward side. It can stand a great deal of 
cold, and, unlike some other birds, can always 
find its food — the buds and tender twigs of trees 
and shrubs — in the hardest weather. The sports- 
man who goes into the places the ruffed grouse 
frequents will see some of the most picturesque 
scenes and romantic landscapes that the country 
affords. Hills and ravines, secluded woodland 
dells, the foliage rich and ripe with the deep 
tints of autumn, will meet his eye, while the 
music of mountain-brooks and the roar of 
waterfalls will fill his ears. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 

In the estimation of sportsmen in this country, 
as well as in Em*ope, the woodcock is regarded 
as one of the very highest game-birds. To 
make a good bag of woodcock is a feat to be 
proud of. The bird is generally scarce, even on 
the best ground, and in its most favorite haunts 
it is difficult to find and kill, and is one of the 
richest morsels on the table that the woods and 
fields supply. The woodcock of America slightly 
differs from that of Europe in size and markings, 
but the variations are of no moment to the sports- 
man. Upon this continent the woodcock winters 
in the Southern States, and in regions still further 
south, and comes north in spring, remaining till 
the ground freezes late in the fall. The bird 
breeds in Canada and Nova Scotia, as well as in 
northern and middle States of the Union, East 
and West ; and it sometimes rears two broods 
in a season. This is not, however, commonly 
the case, but it is certain that when the old 

121 



122 FIELD SHOOTING. 

birds havo lost their nests or their young 
through floods in the breeding-time, they rear a 
late brood. The woodcock arrives north in 
March, and generally builds in April. Much 
depends, however, upon the earliness or lateness of 
the spring, which sometimes varies nearly a 
month. Its nest has been found in March in 
very early situations, but it is believed that in 
such cases they were those of old birds which 
had passed a mild winter in some chosen, 
sheltered spot, and never gone south at all. It 
is reasonable that after having made its migra- 
tion from the far south to the latitude of New 
York, Illinois, Michigan, and Canada, the birds 
would require some weeks for restoration before 
laying their eggs. The nest is made on the 
ground, in a piece of woods or brushy swamp, 
and is composed of grass and leaves. The hen 
lays four, sometimes five eggs, and the young 
run as soon as hatched ; the little ones are 
active and rather cunning at hiding, though not 
to such an extent as the chicks of the ruffed 
grouse. The woodcock displays the same care 
and manifests as much devotion to her young as 
the ruffed grouse, and employs the same expe- 
dient of simulating lameness to draw off an in- 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 123 

tinider from their neighborhood. The hen-wood- 
eock is a tame bird when sitting, and will not 
leave her nest for any light reason. When I 
was a boy, they used to build in a swamp on 
my father's iarm in Albany County, New York, 
where I have more than f)nce crawled up and 
caught the old bird in my hand, and released 
her after looking at her eggs. This would not 
induce her to forsake her nest, and in this she 
differs from some other wild birds. Wild ducks 
are not easily driven from their nests, and, after 
being disturbed once or twice, will still return 
again. The English pheasant, if once flushed 
directly off her eggs, always forsakes them. I 
never saw more than five eggs in a woodcock's 
nest, and usually there are but four. It has 
been stated that a woodcock's nest, with eight 
full-fledffed vouno- ones, was found on the banks 
of Loch Lomond, in Scotland. I believe these 
were the young of some other bird, if eight 
were found, for the story is almost absurd on 
its face. Young woodcocks, full-fledged, are 
n^ver found in a nest. The young, when first 
hatched, might be, but they are then covered 
with dowle, and not with feathers. The wood- 
cock has been kept in confinement, and proved 



124 FIELD SHOOTINO. 

itself to be a Noracious feeder. It was no 
small trouble to keep it supplied with worms. 
It bored in to the earth given to it, and was always 
ready for food. The digestion of the Moodeock 
is very rapid. This accounts for the fact that 
birds which arrive poor speedily get condition in 
good ground. 

For the procurement of its food, for which if 
bores in soft, moist ground, fat, loamy soils, and 
rich vegetable mouhl, it has a long, slender 
bill, very sensitive, and a long, prehensile tongue 
with barbs on the end. The young grow rapidly 
where the lying is good and the food plentiful. 
In favorable seasons they have attained their 
growth by the fourth of July, when the shoot- 
ing commences. But in some places, in some 
years, they are not above two-thirds grown at 
that date. I saw woodcock at Boston this year 
in the middle of July not two-thirds grown, and 
it M^as a pity they had been shot. After the 
broods have once dispersed, the woodcock is a 
solitary bird. It is true that a number of them 
may sometimes be found in the same swale, 
" cripple," or piece of woodland, but that is 
because the lying of the place suits them, and 
the boring is good, worms and the larvae of insects 



SHOOTTNfi THE WOODfOfK. 125 

being abimdant in the soil. The woodcock does 
not frequent sandy, thirst}" soils, nor gravelly 
ground, nor sour, wet meadows. It wants warmth 
and richness, as well as plenty of moisture. The 
bird is nocturnal in its habits, and its great eye, 
placed tar backwards and upwards in its large 
head, enables it to sec by night and in the gloom 
of the thick coverts in which it lies l)y day. It 
never flies by day, unless disturbed, and seldom 
feeds in the daytime, unless it be on rare occa- 
sions in the thick shade of some moist and closely 
overgrown spot in its cover. Late in the evening, 
when it is nearly dark, the woodcock leave the 
cover, and betake themselves to wet, rich places 
to bore for their food. It used to be a popular 
notion that woodcock and snipe ate nothing, and 
lived merely by what w^as called suction ; whereas 
they are both voracious feeders and like the 
richest quality of food — namely, the plump worms 
and insects to be found in fat soils. After indus- 
triously spending the night in finding food to 
satisfy his enormous appetite, the woodcock re- 
turns just before dawn of day to the thick l)rake 
or close overgrown " cripple," in which he lies 
while the daylight lasts. Where there is good 
lying and good feeding ground, woodcock may be 



126 FIELD SHOOTING. 

found in the season, and in spots where one 
bird has been shot it is common for another to 
take its place in a day or two. Where such 
birds come from, and why they did not come 
before the pkice was tenantless, is not known. 
Although in some sort methodical in its ways 
and habits, the woodcock often seems to be 
erratic in its comings and goings to and from 
certain localities. Some days the birds will be 
found plentiful, for them, in certain ground. On 
another day, Avithout any obvious reason for their 
absence, nf)t one can 1)e puf up in the same 
piece. The weather or some other cause un- 
known has induced them to make a local change, 
and this has sometimes been magnified, I think, 
into a second migration or a permanent removal 
to the uplands and bluffs. I do not believe that 
there is any second migration northwards of the 
woodcock after breeding-time ; nor do I believe 
that the birds go to the uplands and bluffs, and 
stay there until the beginning of October. It 
is not true that no woodcock are to be found in 
their usual haunts in September. 1 have found 
and shot them myself in that month in fair num- 
bers. It is true that there are not as many 
as there were in July, and for the very 



SHOOriNO THE AVOODCOCK. 127 

good reason that \ast mini Iters have 1)eeii shot, 
while those wliieh are Jett lia\e V)ecoine morti 
wild aii<l ANarv. An<>ther reasoji tor the seeming 
absence ot* l>ir<ls. except here and there, is simply 
this : M'ith us. grouse-shooting in the latter part of 
August and Septeniher is so iniieh easier, and 
affords so much greater chance of success, that 
very few go after w(^odcoclv in those months, and 
the birds have it all to themselves in woody 
swales, tangled thickets, and the islands over- 
grown with the willow and the alder, until October 
brings down tlie great division of birds bred to 
the northwai-d of the rnited States. 

Early in the season and during the hot weather 
the Avoodcock is a lazy l)ird. and seems to labor 
in its flight. It is not. however, easy to kill on 
that ac<^ount, for when it rises, often very close 
to you, it goes up among the thick foliage, right 
on end, as it were, to the top of the cover, and 
then, after flying horizontally for about twenty 
yards, it suddenly flops down again, ^yhen it 
does this after being shot at. men often think 
they have killed it. while in truth not a feather 
has been touched. The thickness of the covert in 
full leaf prevents the shooter from having any- 
thing but a glimpse of the bird, and he must 



1*28 FIELD SHOOTING. 

make ;i fsnap-shot at wliero intuition tells him the 
woodcock ought to be. Besides this difficulty, the 
upward flight is calculated to distract the aim, 
even when the bird is not absolutely concealed 
by the density of the Ibliage. Commonly it is 
flip-flap of the wing, and the woodcock has gone 
away, often not seen by the sportsman at all. 
In some ])lacos it is practicable to send the dog 
in to beat tlic thicket while you remain on the 
edge to shoot as the cock fly. Where the brush 
is short this may be done, and, if there are many 
birds, the sport will be good. Three years ago 
1 had some nice shooting by following this me- 
thod on Rock River, Illinois. When the cover is 
large, and the timber and saplings are twenty feet 
high, the above-mentioned plan will not work. 
You must go in then with the dogs, and take 
your chance of snap-shots. Later in the year the 
woodcock is sometimes found in more open pieces 
of timber — that is, in places where the under- 
brush is not so very thick. But it is still a 
pretty hard bird to shoot, for now it flies like 
a bullet, and zigzags and twists about among 
the close-standing stems, going for an opening 
through which to make a straight flight. The 
woodcock flushed in cover always goes for an 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 129 

Opening : the riitied grouse never does, but sets 
sail for the closest and densest part. Now, when 
the woodcock is going swift and twisting among 
the stems of the saplings, lie is very easy to fniss, 
and sportsmen who make good l)ags of cock iu 
the prime of the fall season have a right to he 
proud (.f their exploits. This sort of shooting i> 
much more pleasant than tliat t.. Ix- followed iu 
the tangled •• cripples " of Xcw Jersey, all o\ci-- 
grown with cat-briers and thick brush, with no 
good footing where you are, and no possibility 
of knowing where you will be next, [n Albany 
County, New York, we used to use cocking-spaniels 
when woodcock-shooting. I have had none of that 
breed iu the West, and now employ setters. 
They are boldei- and better in forcing their wa}" 
in rough places than pointers. The thin skins of 
the latter get all cut and torn, and their feet 
give out. But the best dogs 1 have ever had for 
general sport, take oiu' sort of shooting with an- 
other, have been cross-bred between the setter 
and the pointer. ' For work these beat any pure- 
bred dog T ever owned, and, I inay add, ever 
saw. But concerning this I shall treat further on. 
A sreat manv woodcock mav be found ahout 
f.ockport, Illinois, forty miles southwest of Chi- 



130 FIELD SHOOTING, 

eago, l>nt the brush is so thick in tlie swamps in 
summer and early fall that the shooting is diffi- 
cult. There are a few on the Sangamon, but 
only a few. On the bottoms and islands of the 
upper Mississippi Rivei-, right dow^n to St. Louis, 
many woodcock may T>e found. The bottoms 
and islands are rich alluvial mould, and the wood- 
cock finds himself well placed in them for cover, 
for food and breeding-places. The brush com- 
monly grows down to the water's edge, and old 
logs lie among the bushes. The Avoodcock also 
frequents the thickets on the edges of the bayous 
and sloughs, and, when the bottoms have been 
overflowed, the birds use them as soon as the 
watev has receded. During the floods they shift 
their places, and lie fiu'ther from the rivers, 
but in the same sort of ground as before. In 
New York they were sometimes found in wet 
corn-fields adjacent to cover, but I do not think 
they ever are in the West. On the Illinois River, 
about Pekin, Peoria, and Havana, there is fair 
M'oodcock-shooting ; 1)ut the bird is scarce every- 
where in the West, compared with other sorts 
of game. Indeed, the woodcock is not only rela- 
tively scarce in the West, but, as I think, abso- 
lutely scarcer than in the Atlantic States. There 



SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 131 

is not ill the prairie States so much ot the sort 
of ground the woodcock likes as there is further 
east. I do, Indeed, know of plenty of ground in 
Central Illinois which one would think just suit- 
able for woodcock, but, owing to some reason 
which I have never been able to discover, the 
birds are not found there. A stray one or two 
may be picked up occasionally, but they are 
never there in any number. I suppose it to be 
owing to some peculiarity in the soil. These 
neighborhoods have much of the right kind of 
food, and snipe abound near them ; but for some 
reason the woodcock does not like them. About 
the middle of October there is a great increase 
in the number of woodcock in the bottoms 
and islands of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. 
Flights of those bred further north then arrive, 
and they stay until driven away by sharp frosts. 
When they first arrive from the North, the leaves 
are still thick, but the white frosts, which are 
quite insufficient to freeze the ground and drive 
the woodcock south, wilt the leaves, and then 
the shooting is pleasant and good. Generally 
speaking, the woodcock remain well along through 
November, and some seasons they have not all 
gone by the 1st of December. They like the 



132 FIELD SHOOTIWa. 

neighl)orhood of little streams which trickle through 
brush and among timber. The most ^ ever killed 
iu a day was fifteen couple. I have heard men 
boast of having killed fifty couple in a day ; but 
if they did it. the birds must have been vastly 
more abundant than I ever saw them anywhere. 
The woodcock is easily killed when you can get 
an open shot ; l)ut that is rather seldom, except 
at the last of the season and iii such small patches 
of short brush as I mentioned above. A w^ood- 
cock, when winged, does not run ofi as quail do. 
The birds have two sorts of flight. In one it 
goes laboring and slow, just over the tops of the 
branches, to which height it has »-isen almost per- 
pendicularly, and then it soon Hops down again. 
Its other mode of flight is swiftly aw^ay among 
the stems of the trees, darting here and there 
until it has found its opening, along which it goes 
like a bullet. 1 was told In the South that it is 
very plentiful along the edges of the bayous in 
the winter there. The negroes go out by night 
in boats with torches, and, paddling along, the 
woodcock on the muddy margin are knocked down 
with sticks. I heard of this, but never saw it, and 
merely tell the tale as it was told to me. 



CHAPTER VIIl. 

THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 

This well-known and excellent little bird of 
passage is to be found all over the country, in 
suitable ground, at the times of the spring and 
fall migrations. It winters about the wet rice- 
fields of the Southern States, and comes north in 
the spring, going to its breeding-grounds, which are 
mainly in higher latitudes than the United States. 
It is true that a few remain all summer in the 
Eastern States, and also in those to the westward, 
and rear broods of young; but by tar the larger 
number continue towards the north, pausing about 
a month in the middle latitudes. It does not 
breed south of Virginia. In Kentucky, Indiana, 
and Michigan some snipe are bred in the sedges 
of the wet prairies and about the edges of the 
wild rice-swamps. In Illinois a few nests are 
made about the Calumet, and some in the great 
Winnebago Swamp, which is part pool, and 
a great deal of high grass marsh. About Co- 
lumbus, Kentucky, the first flights of spring snipe 

188 



134 FIELD SHOOTING. 

arrive on the river-bottoms \>y tlic lii-st ot' March 
ill an early spring, but much depends upon the 
forwardness of the season and the state of the 
weather. The snipe need not be looked for until 
the frost is. quite out of the ground, no matter 
how genial and pleasant the days may be. The 
reason seems to be plain. As long as there is 
frost in the ground the worms and larvae of in- 
sects upon which snipe feed are underneath the 
frozen strata, and cannot be found in the soft mud 
of the surface. In Illinois and Northern Indiana the 
frost holds in the ground much longer than in South-, 
ern Kentucky. It penetrates a good deal deeper, 
and the spring is more backwai'd than in the last- 
named region. Hence the snipe do not come to 
the Calumet, the Winnebago Swamp, the Sanga- 
mon, and the other favorite haunts which it fre- 
quents in Illinois, until nearly a month after they 
have appeared at Columbus. When they first 
arrive, the birds are thin and wild, and do not 
lie well. In a short time, however, they get A^ery 
fat and become lazy. 1 find that in New Jersey 
the fall snipe-shooting is the l)est, aiid that the 
birds tarry so short a time in the spring that 
sometimes there is scarcely any spring snipe-shoot- 
ing at all. Now, with us the reverse of this is 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 135 

the case. The snipe stay inueh longer in the 
spring in the Western States than they do in the 
fall, and they distribute themselves more over the 
face of the country. In the autumn migration 
they keep more to the lines of the great rivers, 
and stay but a short time. One reason, no doubt, 
is that in the spring there is much more wet 
ground, such as suits the snipe. In the fall many 
places in which the birds lie thick in April are 
quite dry, and no longer suitable as feeding- 
places. The snipe likes wet places even more 
than the woodcock. His favorite resorts are wet 
bogs, plashy places in grassy meadows, the rich, 
moist ground of river-bottoms, and the margins 
of grassy sloughs and bayous — 

" By the rushy, fringed bank. 
Where grow the willow and the ozier dank ! " 

The best snipe-shooting with us is in the spring 
of the year, though very good sport may be had 
in the fall. In the spring I have sometimes 
killed from twenty-five to fifty couple a day for 
many days together. When the birds first come, 
they are poor and wild, and the shooting is difficult ; 
but a little time spent upon the rich bottom-land, 
which swarms with worms and other food, puts thein 



136 FIELD SHOOTING. 

in flesh. They are ahle to indulge their sharp and 
almost insatiable appetite, and soon grow fat. 1 
shot snipe sevei'al spring seasons in eompany with 
il\ M. Patehen. of Atlanta. T.ogiUi County, Illinois. 
Our favorite ground was the Salt Creek bottoms 
on the Sangamon, and I doubt whether there is 
any better ground in the world. We have killed' 
as many as three hundred and I'orty in a day, 
and our bag was seldom as small as seventy-five 
couple at the right time. The ground we shot 
over was the grassy, sedgy l)ottoms ahuig Salt 
Creek, near where it falls into Sangamon River, 
and across the latter stream along the bottoms 
in Mason County. The shooting thei-e l)egins 
about the first of April. In many places the bot- 
toms at that time of the yeai' have l)een recently 
overflowed, and a scum of mud and slop is 
left, in which the snipe seem to delight. Snipe 
are vastly more abundant in tlie West, in the 
proper snipe-ground, than they are in the East. 
1 find that in New Jersey and Pennsylvania 
snipe-shooters think they have had an average fair 
day's sport if they have killed about eight 
couple. Now, we should not think we had been 
shooting at all if we killed no more than that 
number, 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 137 

A gi'eat many people go up-\vind when after 
snipe, believing that it gives a much better chance 
to the dogs. 1 always go down-wind, and use no 
dog at all, except for retrieving purposes. There 
is no need to use a dog to find sni2)e «>n good 
snipe-ground at the proper times and seasons. 
The bird always rises against the wind, and flies 
up-wind or across it, making zigzags when he 
first gets under way. Now, if you are to wind- 
ward of the bird when it rises, it is nearly cer- 
tain to give you a side shot. As I remarked 
before, when they first come from the south in the 
spring, the snipe are wild. Their munbers are very 
large, but the ground is nearly bare, the grass 
having but just started. Four or five will get 
up together, and sometimes as many as twenty, 
all uttering the shrill squeak which they make on 
taking wing. . The rich bottoms, low, marshy 
ground around sloughs, and wet corn-fields, are 
good places to look for snipe. As they eat the 
plump worms and other rich food which they find 
in abundance in the loamy soils and black, vege- 
table deposits, the snipe become fat, and then 
they lie close and well. I never found any diffi- 
culty in shooting them then. Later on in the 
season still they get very fat, and will hardly risQ 



138 FIELD 8HOOT1NG. 

at all, save when put up l>y a noise like that of 
their owji squeak. That is the only way to make 
them rise, and their flight is lazy and slow. 
Those which remain after the first of May are 
then so fat that they can hardly fly at all, and 
when they are picked at this time they look like 
a lumj) of flit bacon. When not over-fat, snipe 
fly swift. They hang un the wind f<jr an instant, 
and then dart away zigzag up-wind or across the 
wind. I have several times killed two with one 
barrel, and on one occasion I killed three. It was 
in Logan County, as I was walking along the 
bank of a little slough. The three snipe got up 
in line, the nearest witliin twenty yards, and they 
all three fell to the right barrel. When they first 
come in the spring, it is difficult to shoot snipe in 
the corn-fields. They dodge about among the 
stalks, and rarely rise over the tops of them. A 
man who kills three out of four in the corn-fields 
at that time is a good shot. In shooting over 
the bottom-land it is best for two guns to be in 
company, and to walk down-wind some thirty or 
forty yards apart. Nearly all the birds may then 
be got. The sliooters will be nearly certain to kill 
:dl the l>irds that rise between them, if they are 
good shots. Ill shootiiig at snipe it is a great 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SH00TI!1G. 139 

error to shoot too quick. The snipe, at first 
getting on the wing, twists and wires in and out 
in his flight. If shot at then, it may l)e killed, 
but is more likely to be missed. By waiting 
until it has gone a rod or two you may get a 
much easier shot. The flight of the bird is then 
straight, and, though it presents Init a small mark, 
there is no real difliculty in hitting it. Side 
shots are the best of all for a good shot. Be- 
ginners are somewhat apt to shoot behind the 
bird. The right time to pull' the trigger is just 
as the snipe begins the direct flight. It is not 
a hard bird to kill on the l^ottoms, even while 
somewhat wild, if you can shor>t well and go 
the right way about youi* beat, which is down- 
wind. Afterwards, when they have got tat, it is 
as easy to kill as any bird I know of. In 
talking with General Strong, who is a good 
sportsman and fine shot, and other gentlemen of 
Chicago, about snipe-sfiooting, I found it Mas their 
impression that it was a hard bird to shoot. 
Now, I knew well that, taken in the right way, 
at the right time, it was a very easy bird to 
kill ; and I offered to back myself to shoot and 
bag a hundred snipe in a hundred consecutive 
shots. If I missed one shot out of the one hun- 



140 FIELD SHOOTING. 

dred, I was to be the losei'. \ was willing to put 
up the money, and to take General Strong him- 
self as referee to see that I did it. They, hoNV- 
ever, declined to make the wager. If it had been 
accepted, 1 should have chosen the f>alt Creek and 
Sangamon l)ottoms for the ground, and taken the 
last week in April for the period. The birds are 
then fat and lazy, and I am confident that 1 could 
have done the feat. 1 should not, as a matter 
of course, have bound myself to do it within a 
certain time, because it is not possible to say 
when you can find birds thick on the ground. 
The snipe is somewhat erratic in his habits, and 
change of weather causes them to change their 
ground. If 1 had found snipe on that ground as 
thick as I have sometimes done, I believe I 
should have killed the one hundred, without a 
miss, in one day. I should not have taken any 
but fair chances, and I should not have let fair 
shots go unimproved. In order to perform a feat 
of this kind a man must have several essential 
qualifications. He must be a dead-shot. He 
must have the best of nerve, and never be 
flurried in the least. With such a man, and a 
gun of t<Mi bore, charged with five drams of 
powder and an ouncf and a quarter of No. 12 



THR SNIPE AXD BNIPK-SHOOTING. 141 

shot, the snipe rising near at hand will have 
hnt a very small chance of getting away. But 
as one miss will lose the wager, it is abso 
Intel y necessary that the shooter should know 
when he is holding his gun so that it is virtu 
ally certain he will kill. If I had got the 
match, 1 should have used no dog to shoot over, 
l»ut should have walked the bottoms, going down 
wind, and should have chirped the snipe up with 
their own cry. I have often killed thirty with 
out a miss, when shooting for no wager, and 
taking every bird that rose within fair distance, 
as they got up anywhere. These things may seem 
strange to many sportsmen, especially those who 
are mostly conversant with places where game 
is scarce and, being much disturbed and shot at, 
quite wild. But different localities and very 
different circumstances must be allowed for. I 
state nothing which is not true, and nothing but 
what I can support by good testimony — that of 
men who know the ground, and are acquainted 
with many of the anecdotes and feats 1 relate. 
In general snipe-shooting a man who kills two 
out of four IS accounted a good shot, and this 
is generally done by beating up-wind. Now, if 
su<-h a man will try my i>lan and beat down 



142 FIELD SHOOTING. 

wind, having no dog save one to retrieve dead 
birds, he will find he can do much better. He 
will kill a great many more of the birds he 
shoots at. I have been snipe-shooting with men 
who called themselves good shots, and 1 have 
seen them miss full half of the birds they 
shot at. They almost always fired too quick, while 
the snipe was making his darts here and there before 
going off straight As a general rule, yon must be 
willing and able to do a great deal of walking 
when snipe-shooting, if you would make a large 
bag. When I first shot snipe on Salt ('i-eek 
bottoms, it was with a muzzle-loader, and J had 
no horse and Ituggy. AA ith ;i horse and buggy 
to go to the ground and carr}' the bulk of the 
ammunition all day, ami with a breech-loader, 1 
could have killed thivc <ti' four hundi*ed snipe a 
day 1 could do so now it" I could walk all day„ 
as I could then. l>ut since 1 was shot in the 
thigh my endurance in Avalking, especially on wet, 
slippery ground, is not as great as it formerly 
was. 1 could once walk from dawn of day till 
dark, only stopping to eat and drink, and could 
tire the best man 1 ever had in company in a 
long day's ti-amp after game it was upon that 
and upon knowledge and judgment, largely de- 



THE SNIPE AND 8NIPE-SH00TING. 143 

rived from experience, as to the likeliest places 
to find game, and how it would behave when 
found, that 1 relied in challenging any man in 
the world in field-shooting in the West. 1 counted 
upon these things as much as 1 did upon my 
ability as a marksman. My challenge stood three 
years, and had publicity through the sporting news- 
papers. There was plenty of talk about taking- 
it up, but no one ever did so. 1 hear from time 
to time about some man who is said l)y some 
other man to be the best general field-shot in the 
Western country. This best general field-shot is 
commonly some man who was never heard of 
before by me or by anybody else outside of his 
own small neighborhood. I believe 1 know as 
many of the real dead-shots of the West as any 
man in that section, and yet some one is mentioned 
as the best of all, of whom I never heard before. 
These foolish opinions and hollow reputations are 
commonly held and manufactured by those who 
have taken up the absurd notion that a man who 
is a good trap-shooter at pigeons cannot be a good 
field-shot. Now, the reverse of this is commonly 
the case. The best shots 1 have known at pigeons 
have been good shots in the field, but many men 
who do well enough in the field fail at pigeons. 



144 TIKLD SHOOTING. 

In snipe-shooting in tlio AVest along sloughs 
or wet swales, in the prairie or corn-fieldsj there 
should be two guns in company, one on each side 
of the slough or swale Your companion will com- 
monly l)c willing that you shall take either side 
you choose, as few men kn<»w that it makes any 
diiference. But it inakes a very material differ- 
ence when the wind is blowing across, or nearly 
across, the slough, and if you take the windward 
side you will have the )n(>st shots. I have always 
done so, and liave often .killed two or three snipe 
to one killed by my companio)i. The reason is 
simply this • the snipe fly up-wind. and those which 
rise on the leeward side of the slough cross it to 
windward, whde none of those which get up on 
the latter side fly to leeward. 

When the snipe first come on in the spring, 
it is often primarily discovered by a certain habit 
tney have of hovering in the air of nights, and 
making a kind of humming noise with their wings, 
as they fall from a height. 1 have often been out 
duck shooting at night at that season of the year, 
and, hearing this noise in the air, have become aware 
that the snipe had arrived from the south. Before 
they leave for the north to breed they often do 
the same thing by day, and it is oidy when in iIm- 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 145 

mood for this that snipe are on the win^ \)\ day. 
except when put up. When hovering, the snipe 
poise themselves in the air at a considerable height, 
and, suddenly dropping or darting away, make 
this noise with their wings : then they make another 
hover, and then another .dart. When in this humor, 
the snipe will not lie to dogs nor to be walked up 
within shot, and no sport is to be had. They 
usually do it on still, cloudy days. T have seen 
statements to the effect that at such timrs snipe 
will alight on fences, stumps, and the topmost 
boughs of trees. I can only say, touching these 
statements, that my experience is all the other 
Way. I have been many years in a part of the 
country where the snipe are found in amazing 
abundance every spring and fall : I have seen them 
hovering hundreds of times, when hundreds of 
them were at it in the air ; but I never saw" one 
alight on a tree or a fence or on anything but 
the ground. I have, I think, been a close observer 
of the habits of such game-birds as frequented 
Illinois. My livhig depended on it, in some de- 
gree. This thing, however, I never saw a snipe 
do, and 1 feel quite certain that snipe in Illinois 
never do it. I do not say that the authors of the 
statements in question have made wilful misrepre- 



146 FIELD SHOOTING. 

sentations, but I do say that they may have been 
mistaken, and that the birds which alighted on 
trees while the snipe were hovering and bleating 
were not snipe. It is the easiest thing in the world 
to see snipe hovering in the spring in places where 
they abound. Take a day in April when the sun 
is not bright and there is a hazy atmosphere. 
On such a day the snipe are at it nearly all day 
long. There will be first one and then another 
going through with this performance, and you 
may sometimes hear three or four at it at once, 
though not very close together. 1 have never 
met a man who had seen, or pretended to have 
seen, a snipe alight on a tree or fence at this or 
any other time. 

Snipe begin to arrive with its in the fall, about 
the middle of October, but they do not come 
down from the north in large numbers so early 
as that date. At the last of October they are 
commonly plentiful, but are not found in the places 
where they were so abundant in the spring. In 
the fall there are not one-fourth as many in the 
bottoms of Salt Creek and the Sangamon as there 
are in April. Neither are they so well distribut- 
ed over the country along the sloughs. In go- 
ing south they keep more to the lines of the big 



THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 14? 

rivers, and perhaps many of theni keep more to 
the eastward in their southern migration than they 
do in coming north. I am inclined to think that 
this last must be the case, for the birds are not 
anything like as numerous in the fall, when the 
broods come, as they were in the spring, when 
the snipe went north to breed. The best fall 
snipe-shooting with us is along the bottoms of 
the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and about the 
marshes of the great Winnebago Swamp. Here 
the sportsman may have good shooting until late 
in the fall — 1 may say, in some seasons, until the 
beginning of winter, for the snipe do not leave 
altogether until the ground is frozen. When that 
happens, they go southwards. In Illinois there is 
some marshy ground which the snipe do not like. 
Most of the land in that State, being rich loam 
or vegetable alluvial, suits them well ; but in some 
places there is sand or gravel as well as much 
moisture, and neither of these does the snipe seem 
to like. I suppose the favorite food in these 
soils is scarce, and in all probability the birds do 
not like to bore in gritty ground. A few may 
be found scattered in wet places on such soils, 
but at the same time they lie in thousands along 
the loamv bottoms and in the marshes. In these 



148 FIEI D SHOOTING. 

latter the soil is usually vegetable mould, the rich, 
black deposit commonly called swamp-muck. In 
this the snipe delights above all. Snipe afford a 
vast amount of sport, but the sport itself de- 
mands for its proper pursuit very consideralile 
endurance and hardihood. The snipe-shooter must 
expect to be wet and to be fatigued, but he may 
also count upon making a good bag. It is one 
of the most delicious l)irds that flies, certainly 
second to uone but the upland-plover and one or 
two sorts of duck. Many think it second to none 
whatever, and 1 doubt if it is \\hen in prime ordej- 
and properl} cooked and served. In places where 
snipe are not plentiful it is no doubt advisable 
to use a dog to beat the meadows and marshes, 
and point them ; but such is not the case where 
I have been accustomed to shoot. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAV PLOVER. 

In the West we have in the spj-liio- and tall 
great numbers of the golden plover — a heaiititid 
bird, testing the skill and patience of the sports- 
man, and one that is very delicate and rich eating 
on the table. It is stated, in some books 1 have 
looked into, that the golden plover is essentially 
a shore bird. This is a great error, if the same 
species is meant, for it visits Illinois and Iowa, 
and I doubt not the country further west, in 
prodigious numbers. It is called the golden 
plover from being speckled with yellow on the 
back of the head and neck. Its principal colors 
are not at all like gold ; and when the birds are 
seen in flocks on the grass-lands they love to 
frequent, the golden spots cannot be distinguished. 
It is a handsome bird, graceful in shape, and 
quite plump. The golden plover is not quite as 
large as a quail, but almost, when fat. The male 
is dark in color, with white spots on the breast, 
and narrow white streaks on the cheeks. The 
149 



150 " FIELD SHOOTING. 

female is gray, ami a little smaller than the male. 
This bird wintei's in the south, principally upon 
the great grassy ranges of Texas and Northern 
Mexico. It arrives in the prairie States about 
ten days after the snipe, commonly about the 
tenth of April ; but much depends on the 
forwardness or backwardness of the spring. 
With us there is a variation of some three 
weeks between a very forward spring and one 
that is very late. The golden plover forms one 
of the most numerous bodies of the great mi- 
gratory hordes which come north at the end of 
the winter. They come in flocks, some of the 
latter, on their arrival, being as many as three 
or four hundred in number. At their first 
coming they are to be found on the bui-nt prairies, 
and soon after they will be seen in ploughed 
fields and on bare pastures. They also frequent 
young wheat which is then fairly started, and in 
those spots where the plant has been drowned 
out or killed by the frost these birds are sure 
to be found. They like the bare earth and the 
close-eaten pastures, especially those in certain 
localities. From high knolls, where the grass 
has been eaten oft' short, they can sometimes be 
hardly driven away. In sheep pastures the plover 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 151 

are usually found at the proper season ; for the 
sheep is a close feeder, and likes to range on 
knolls and hills. Along with the golden plover, 
and apparently intimately associated with them 
and forming part of the flocks, comes the cur- 
lew, another handsome and delicious bird. It is 
a little larger than the golden plover, stouter in 
build, and gray in color. In size and shape the 
curlew resembles a well-grown woodcock, but with 
longer wings and a thinner head. It has a bill 
about two' inches long, curved in shape, and is not 
so high on the leg as its companion, the golden 
plover. They may be easily distinguished from 
each other when the flock is on the ground, and 
also when in flight. The curlew aflbrds as good 
sport to the shooter as the plover, and the epi- 
cure, who really knows how good it is, esteems it 
as a dish dainty and delicate as the golden plover 
itself, though, perhaps, not quite so delicious as 
the gray or upland plover, of which I shall treat 
further on. In the curlew there is no apparent 
difl^erence between the male and female. In some 
flocks it will be found to be nearly as numerous as 
the plover, while in others the latter are in a large 
majority. When in the spring ploughing the rich 
soil, of our prairie States is turned up, a vast 



152 FIELD SHOOTING. 

number of" tat worms are thrown to the surface. 
To pick up and feed upon these, the golden 
plover and curlew will be seen following the 
ploughman along the furrow. Sometimes they fly 
a little ahead of the plough and team, some- 
times abreast of them, and all the time some are 
wheeling and curling round and dropping in the 
furrow which has just been made. At such times 
these birds occasionally become so bold and 
tame that they come quite close to the horses, 
and I haA'c known some to be knocked down and 
killed by the driving-boys with their whips. As 
a matter of course, this is rather uncommon ; but 
their bc^ldness and tameness, Avhen ploughing is 
going on, is in strong contrast to their timidity 
and wariness on other occasions. They seem to 
be sagacious enough to know that where the men 
and teams are ploughing there can be no shooting, 
and they take advantage of that tact. 

The best places for shooting golden plovei- and 
curlew in the earlier part of their stay M-ith us 
are the burnt ground of the prairies, where the 
grass is beginning to quicken, and those close- 
eaten and bare spots in the pastures of which I 
have made mention. It will be Ijest, when going 
for these birds, to take a do^r to bri)i<T in wounded 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 153 

ones. At their first arrival the flocks of plover 
and curlew are rather wild and difficult to get 
at. In their sojourn on, and long flights troni, 
the plains of Texas across Arkansas, and along 
the Mississippi River to Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, 
and Kansas, they have not been accustomed to 
the neighborhood of men, and at first they are 
shy. But if not shot at and frequently disturbed, 
they soon get tame, and may be approached. 
But some knowledge of their habits and some 
craft are always requisite in order to get good 
chances at these shifty and cunning birds. On 
some days the flocks will be much on the wing, 
flying from one field to another, and all going in 
one direction, as wild pigeons do. At such times 
the shooter may take a stand in the lint; of flight, 
and get fair shooting all day as the flocks go over. 
It is not necessary to hide altogether ; in fact, in 
these localities — the burnt prairies and great pas- 
tures — there is seldom the means to do so : but 
it is often desirable to lie down. Here again 
it must be observed that it is of no use to lie 
down in clothes strongly in contrast as to color 
with the ground or grass. The golden plover 
and curlew are low-flying birds, and, when lying 
down in about the line of flight, the shooter may 



154 FIELD SHOOTING. 

soiuetiiiu's get a side shot at a large, close flock, 
and kill eight or ten with his two barrels. Some- 
times the birds skim on not above four oi' fi\e 
feet from the ground. At other times they fly 
pretty high, but within fair shot ; and when one 
barrel of the gun is discharged, the whole flock 
will come swooping down towards the earth, as 
if the shut had killed them all. In that case it 
is very difiicult to put in the second l)arrel with 
good eflect. When they fly 1<>m and ju-esent side 
shots is the most favorable time to pepper them. 

At the shooting on the pastures Avhere ihr 
birds have made their temporary home it will 
sometimes be found that the golden plover and 
curlew are not flying in flocks in one direction 
in such a manner that you can select a place in 
the line of flight. It is then best to go with a 
horse and buggy. The horse should be a steady 
one, so as to stand Are, and should also be capable 
of going at a go<:)d rate, as speed is one of 
the elements of success in driving for plover. 
The birds will he seen flying about in various 
directions over the wide pasture, and settled in 
bunches on it. AVhen put on the wing at such 
times, they always settle in a eluster nearly close 
together, and put up their head as though taking 



GOLDEN' PLOVER, CUKLEW, GKAY PLOVEK. 155 

u survey of tlie grovin<7. \^'holl they do this at 
a proper distance, the horse must he put to a 
swift trot 111 such a direction as you would take 
if goino- past the ph:)ver on your own sharp 
business. Judoe the ground and estimate the 
distance, so that when you arc a])reast of the 
flock it will be within shot. The birds, in such 
a case, will not rise until the horse stops, and 
sometimes, if the shooter is quick and prompt, 
he niay get a crack at them with one barrel just 
as they are upon the point of leading the ground, 
and before they are actually ou the wing. When 
a shot can be got while they are thus huddled 
together, many may be killed. There is no scruple 
about shooting at these Inrds in this manner among 
sportsmen, but few ha%e the art and promptness 
to manage it. The horse must be fast. He 
must trot up at a swift pace. You must judge 
the distiance nicely, for you cannot sw^erve 
out -of the line and in upon the birds with- 
out causing them to take w^ing. Finally, the horse 
must be one that will obey a light touch of the 
rein, and stop rather suddenly M'ithout a jerk. 
When shooting plover on foot at such times as 
they are acting, after tlie habit described above, 
the sportsman must follow the same plan in 



156 



FIELD SHOOTING 



principle. Instead of driving up, as if going Ly, 
he must run fast, as if intending to pass, and 
must not incline his course in towards the flock. 
These birds seem t-o act as if they reasoned and 
arrived at certain conclusions. These conclusions 
would l)e correct enough if the craft of the man 
were )iot exerted to deceive them by false appear- 
ances. When the shooter is abreast of the flock, 
he must conu' to a stop, and, making a (juarter- 
whirl. fire (|uickly. He must be (juick, for the 
moment he stops in his forward coarse up gets 
the flock. I never knew a man who would not 
thus circumvent and shoot among a flock of <;olden 
plover and curlew in this manner, if he had the 
skill to achieve an opportunity to do so. I have 
heard men say they never kiUcd any j»l<^ver except 
on the wing. \ can readily l)elieve it ; and will 
add, very few in any way. All T can say is that 
I should not like to be the plover when these 
parties had a chance to put in a barrel under such 
circumstances as those above described. The 
horse and buggy is the easiest way to go to work, 
and that itself is somewhat diflicult. The man 
who undertakes to run up must be swift of foot, 
good in the whnd, and so steady of nerve that he 
will not be flustered and his hand will not shake 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 157 

when lie stops suddenly and whirls to shoot. When, 
by a shot at the flock on the wing, two or three 
of the plover or curlew are crippled, the others 
will circle round them, and often offer chances 
for capital shots. The breech-loading gun is in- 
valuable in such circumstances as these. On one 
such occasion I remember having killed forty-two 
golden plover and curlew, all shot on the wing, 
before I picked up one of them. Many a time I 
have killed as many as fourteen or fifteon without 
lifting a bird, there being opportunities to load 
and fire again and again while the plover swept 
and circled over the dead and wounded of their 
own flock. Sometimes the flocks of golden jDlover 
and curlew are so numerous in a neighborhood, so 
large in extent, and fly in such a way, that a gi-eat 
number may be killed in a short time. I remem- 
ber one such time well. It is now twelve years 
ago, and at that period there was a great deal <>f 
unbroken prairie in the neighborhood of Elkhart, 
f started out after dinner from that place, and 
<lrove two miles into the prairie. It had just l)een 
burned over, and large flocks of plover and cm-lew 
were coming in one after the other. That after- 
noon I killed two hundred and sixty-four plover 
and curlew, and ijot back to Elkhart at sundown- 



158 FIELD SHOOTiNCV. 

I got a few sitting shots on that occasion, but the 
vast majority of the birds were killed on the 
wing, while circling round their wounded com- 
panions. This was done with a muzzle-loader. 
With a good breech-loader and plenty of cart- 
ridges I believe I could have killed five hundred 
birds that afternoon. Much of the prairie about 
there, which was then unbroken, has been broken 
up, and is now wheat, corn, and oat land. The 
golden plover and curlew are not as numerous in 
that neighborhood now as they were then. Still, 
there are plenty of them in the right season of the 
year. Of late years I have generally killed from 
fifty to two hundred plover and curlew a day 
when out after them especially. This means 
golden plover, as 1 never shoot the gray or grass 
plover in the spring, for a reason I shall presently 
advance. My bag has seldom been less than fifty, 
and not often as high as two hundred, and I have 
commonly shot right along during the season, pre- 
ferring to do so rather than to go after snipe 
to the Sangamon and Salt Creek bottoms. The 
golden plover and curlew are highly esteemed by 
the high-livers of the cities. There is a constant 
demand for them at Chicago, and good prices are 
obtained when they first come in. 



GOLDEJf PLOVER, CUHLEM', OR AY Pf.nVKK. 159 

Golden |)lov«^r and curlew uuiy he tbiiinl ahiiust 
anywhere in the prairie States in April. As 1 
stated briefly in the chapters on pinnated grouse', 
I once went on a three months' shooting-excursion 
to Christian County, Illinois, starting ahout the- 
first of February. My shooting companion was 
a hunter named Joe Phillips, and we had for 
camp-keeper a lively, jovial fellow named Ben 
Powell. The latter has acted as camp-keeper for 
me many years. We pitched oui- tent about 
a couple of miles from the town of Assumption, 
and the repcn-t was soon spread in that ])rimitiAC 
Western village' that we were a l»and of gipsies. 
One evening a bevy of brown, blushing girls ar- 
rived at the camp and demanded information as 
to where the gipsy women were. They wanted 
to haA'c their fortunes told, and could hardly be 
persuaded that we were simply hunters and of 
the same race of people as themselves. After- 
wards some of the men of the village came, and. 
in conversation with Powell during the absence 
of Phillips and myself, boasted of a great shot 
they had among them. The people of the region 
were almost all agriculturists and herdsmen, and 
as for shooting game on the wing, they hardly 
knew what it was. The man. who had settled 



160 FIELD SHOOTING. 

among them from a distance, professed himself a 
great pigeon-shot. Powell listened to the wonders 
this man could perform, and then enquired whether 
they would like to back him to shoot pigeons against 
one of the field-shooters of our party. They said 
they would, and the preliminaries of a match 
Avere arranged, in which Powell was to put uj^ 
our team of ponies and wagon against a hinidred 
dollars cash on the other side. But the match 
was not confirmed ; for while the discussion was 
still going on Phillips and 1 returned to camp 
from our hunt, and this broke it off. One of the 
Assumption men had seen me before somewhere, 
and had heard my shooting well spoken of. Tie 
caused his townsmen to draw l)ack. I have no 
idea that the man they spoke of was mucli of a 
shot. He very likely could not kill sixty birds 
in a hundred at eighteen yards rise. 

During the time we shot in Christian County 
Phillips and 1 kept separate accounts of the game 
we killed. In the three months I killed with my 
own gun over six thousand head of game-birds. 
They included pinnated grouse, brant, geese, ducks, 
cranes, golden plover and curlew, snipe, and a few 
sand-snipe. The largest lunnber were golden plo- 
ver and curlew, and the next on the list w;is snipe. 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. IHl 

Oil that occasion, in one afternoon, I killed sev- 
enty-nine ducks, brant, and Canada geese ; and 
Phillips made a good bag the same day. It 
sometimes falls out so that waterfowl or other 
birds of pursuit are so numerous and act in such 
a way that a very large number may be killed. 
These occasions do not happen, however, very 
often. 

After the golden plover and curlew have re- 
mained with us some time in the spring, they are 
no longer seen in large flocks, but are found 
scattered and distributed over the country in 
small companies numbering from three or four to 
tAvelve. Early in the morning these companies 
ai-c found on the bare pastures. By eight or 
nine in the morning they will have gone to the 
arable land, and are following the plough in the 
furrow. After they have partially dispersed in 
this manner they fly very fast, and then they are 
exceedingly good practice for the skilful shooter. 
The man who can make nearly certain of his 
single plover, flying swift, as they do, after the 
large flocks have broken up and scattered, is a 
good man at any kind of shooting. I prefer it 
to any other kind of practice. Before shooting 
against Abraham Kleinman for the championship 



102 FIELD SHOOTING. 

badge of the liiited States, at one hundred 
pigeons each. I took two weeks' practice at plo- 
ver. They were then scattered, and I shot at none 
hut single birds. The practice was of much ser- 
vice, as the plover flew verv swift and did not 
present a large mark. From what I could do 
with them in the field J was satisfied I should 
win the match, and it so turned out. I killed 
the whole of the hundred pigeons in the match ; 
ninety-three of them Mere scored to me, and the 
other seven fell dead out of bounds. From the 
time the great flocks of plover scatter, which is 
"sometimes as early as the twentieth of April, 
practice at single, fast-flying birds, such as I have 
mentioned, may be had until they go north to 
their breeding-grounds in the higher latitudes. 

We now come to the upland or highland, 
grass, gray, or whistling plover, which, according 
to scientific naturalists, is no plover at all, strictly 
speaking, but a bird of similar habits and ap- 
pearance, called Bartram's tatler. As it is known 
among sportsmen as a plover only, I shall call 
it one. This bird is a little larger than the 
golden plover, and a little longer in the leg ; it 
Is also more upright and has a longer neck than 
the other. Its color is gray. It is a very 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVEK. 1 H.S 

handsome l)ird, and neither tlie woodsi, the fields, 
nor the waters of the American continent supply 
a more delicious repast than is afforded by a 
dish of these rich and delicate birds. They 
winter upon the great plains of Mexico and 
Texas, upon both banks of the Rio Grande, and 
are in large numbers, though not so numerous 
as the golden plover and curlew. The upland 
plover is the last of the spring migrants from the 
south, and when it is seen with us we may 
safely predict that there will be no more cold 
weather. Its arrival in the prairie States is 
generally ten days later than that of the first 
of the united flocks of golden plover and cur- 
lew. While it lingers longer in the south than 
they, there is a corresponding difference in the 
limits of its visits to the north. • They go on 
to higher latitudes to breed, after having stayed 
about a month with us. The upland plover 
breeds with us, though many, no doubt, go far 
north of Illinois to do so. Indeed, it is found 
in the summer in Minnesota, and Manitoba, in the 
British Territory. The upland plover makes a soft, 
whistling noise when put up, reminding one of Burns's 

" EMll-toned plover gray, 
Wild whistling o'er the hill." 



IH4 FIELD SHOOTING. 

It is a dodging, cuiiniiig bird, hut, when it 
first arrives in the hitter part of April, it is 
veiT tame and very easily shot. I never shoot it 
at that season, and no one ought to do so ; for 
the birds are ready to pair as soon as they 
reach their breeding-grounds on our prairies. It 
builds in the grass of the prairie pastures, on 
the ground, its nest being made of dead grass, and 
commonly under a tussock. The eggs are a pale, 
bluish green, freckled with brown, and T do not 
think the hen usually lays more than three. I 
ha\e a sort of remembrance that I have seen nests 
with four eggs in them, but I made no notes of 
them at the time, and am not quite certain. The 
young birds grow fast, and get fat on abun- 
dance of grasshoppers and other insects which 
swarm in the hot months with us. About the 
first of September the upland plover, young and 
old, are fine, plump birds, and are far more diiffi- 
cult to shoot than the breeding-birds were when 
they reached' the Western States in the spring. 
In the fall they are wild and wary, full of craft 
and cunning, and hardly to be approached by a 
man on foot, especially if he has a gun. 
Almost the only way to get near enough to them 
to shoot is by means of a horse and buggy. 



GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 165 

They are to be found in scattered groups, we 
may say thin flocks, on pastures and meadows 
that have been mowed. The uplaad plover in its 
flight takes much more open order than the 
golden plover and ciH-lew, though still keeping a 
sort of companionship, and it does not settle in 
clusters, as is the habit of those birds. They 
run, scattering about over the pastures and mea- 
dows, catching grasshoppers and su.-h like insects, 
and, when put up. they fl}' ofl* swift, in open or- 
der, well spread out. The sportsman who is 
after them with the horse and buggy must pursue 
the same tactics as those mentioned in reference to 
shooting golden plover and curlew in the spring. 
The horse must go fast, and the man must shoot 
the moment he stops. 1 never try to step to 
the ground, but shoot from the buggy. It is 
best to have a companion when after these wild 
and wary birds. While one men lies dowji in a 
selected spot, the other drives i-ouiid t<» the far 
side of the birds, and gets his shot if he can. 
Whether he does or not, the plover will be apt 
to fly over the man lying down. This is the 
only system which promises any success for men 
who are after upland plover on foot in the fall 
of the year. It is of no use chasinj; after them 



166 FIELD SHOOTING. 

over the meadows and pastures, in hopes to get 
near enough for a shot. 

Sand-snipe and grass snipe (so-called hi the 
West) are not snipe, but some sorts of tatlers 
or sand-jjipers. They resemble the plover, but 
are smaller, being oidy about the size of a true 
snipe. The sand-snipe has a whitish breast; the 
grass-snipe is a gray bird. They come about the 
same time as golden plover and cm-lew. and in 
pretty large flocks. In dry seasons these flocks 
appear to unite, two or three making but one, 
and then they are in very large numbers together. 
They are nice, ]>lump birds, as good to eat as 
plover, and easy to get at. However, good as they 
are, few people slioot them, and it is easy enough 
to get within range of a flock of them. They 
frequent marshy ground, such jis the true snipe 
likes. Unlike the latter, however, they fly in 
flocks, and settle d<jwn, clustered together, on the 
muddy edges of sloughs and little water-holes, 
which they see while crossing the prairie on the 
wing. Once, when 1 was out shooting golden plo- 
ver and curlew, 1 saw a great flock of these 
smaller birds in a marshy spot near a little pond. 
1 thought they were plover, but as 1 neared them 
'(he flock rose, and then 1 saw it was a vast col- 



GOLDEN PLOVEKj CURLEW^ GRAY PLOVER. 167 

lection of saii(1-siii])o. It was a &i'y season, and, 
AS is then their wont, they had gathered into great 
flocks. They flew around, and finallv settled again. 
I do not usually trouble myself with this bj^'d, 
for nobody seems to care about it, although it is 
as good eating as the snipe itself, for all the long 
bill of the latter; but as 1 had come down to 
them, 1 concluded to take a crack at the flock. 
It was certainly as much as five hundred in num- 
ber. So I let fly with <jne barrel charged with 
No. 10, and, making a raking shot over the ground, 
killed fifty-four. If game were scarce with us, as 
it is in some parts, sand-snipe and grass-snipe 
would be held in esteem, 



CHAPTER X. 

WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 

The best of the ducks which are found in the 
Western States are Canvas-backs, Redheads, Mal- 
lards, Pintails, Blue-bells, Blue and Green winged 
Teal, Widgeon, and Black Ducks. There are also 
Wood-ducks, which, though most l)eautiful in plu- 
mage, are not very fine on the ta])le. Some are, 
however, shot for the sake of their feathers, which 
are exported to England, where the brilliant hues 
of part of their plumage are used in the inanu- 
facture of artificial flies for salmon and trout fish- 
ing. And besides the species mentioned above, 
there are two or three ducks of other sorts, which, 
being scarce and comparatively worthless, are of 
no account to the sportsman, and need not l)e 
further alluded to in this work. The wood-duc?i 
breeds in Illinois and the other Western States 
aloiig the rivers and creeks, and always in or on 
the edge of timber. It is rather numerous along 
the Sangamon and the shores of Salt Creek. They 
make their nests in hollows of trees, and are the 

168 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 169 

only kind of ducks which, to my knowledge, ever 
alight in trees. It is very beautiful, having gor- 
geous plumage, with a topknot on the head. The 
female hatches from eight to twelve young in a 
brood, and carries them off one by one to the 
water. The wood-duck is short, small, and stout, 
weighing about a pound and a half, and is not 
much prized for the table. It is very swift in 
flight, and can go through timber like a wild pigeon 
or a ruffed grouse. 

Of the ducks to be found with us, the most 
numerous, and perhaps the best, is the mallard. 
I consider it quite equal to the canvas-back in 
juiciness and flavor, and also to the redhead or 
pochard. Jt is true that so much has been writ- 
ten and said about the unrivalled excellence of the 
canvas-back that it may seem here-tical to main- 
tain that the mallard is as good. Such, however, 
is my own conviction ; and though some say that 
the canvas-backs of the West have not the pecu- 
liar flavor of those procured on the sea-coast in 
shallow waters, others, whose experience of them 
in both localities is large, say this is an error, 
arising from prejudice and imagination. The edi- 
tor of this A\'ork states some facts which go to 
fortify me in my opinion, He says that when 



170 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Senator Piigh was in Washington, representing the 
State of Ohio, this question of the superioritj of 
the canvas-backs of the East over those which 
had fed and got fat on the wihl rice and wild 
celery of the West was mooted at a supper in 
which canvas-backs were the chief dish. All those 
practically unacquainted with the Western ducks 
laughed at the notion that they could compare in 
excellence with those of Maryland. Mr. Pugh was 
rather deaf, as he always has been, but he seems 
to h;ne heard the observations in question, though 
he (lid iiol coHtradict tlieni then.. lie wrote, 
however, lo a friend of his, then collector at San- 
dusky, on the shallow bay of that name in Lake 
Erie, a noted resort for Western wild fowl, re- 
questing him to send to Washington a few couple 
of fat canA'as-backs. In due time they arrived, 
and the gentlemen nf ilie party who had met 
l)efore were iuNited by the senator to supper. 
He had ])j-oeiired some fme canvas-backs from 
Baltimore, an<l he took good care his guests 
should know it. But before the ducks were cooked 
those froj)i ( >liio were substituted for those of 
the Patapsco. 1'he\- were served up, eaten with 
great relisli. aii«l th^' usual pteans of praise, and 
n«^t a man at the table except Senator Pugh 



V/Il^D DrOKS AXD WESTERN DUrK-SirOOTING. 1 Tl 

Iviiew that they had feasted on Western ducks 
until told so the next day. Even then they were 
hardly convinced. Another matter in this connec- 
tion is that the very able and well-informed 
author, Dr. Sharpless, of Philadelphia, stated that 
he could never distinguish much difference in 
flavor between canvas-backs and redheads, and 
that many of the latter were sold as canvas-backs 
and eaten as such by those who professed to know 
all about the divine flavor. The editor of this 
work has often received canvas-back ducks from 
Mr. Saliagnac, of Philadelphia, M^ho rents shootings 
on the coast. The canvas-backs sent to him by 
that gentleman were in truth ^^ery excellent, but 
neither he nor any one else who partook of them 
thought them superior to some mallards which had 
been killed in a wheat-stubble in Iowa, an«l were 
sent on as a present by Mr. James Bruce, of 
Keokuk, now of St. Louis, Missouri. Moreover, 
Mr. Saliagnac himself, great sportsman and en- 
thusiastic admirer of canvas-backs as he is, told 
the editor that his breed of tame ducks, the 
large, white upland Muscovy, were just about as 
fine eating as canvas-backs when fattened and killed 
at the right time, and cooked in the same way. 
Of course all this will l)o hooted at 1)V those 



172 FIELD SHOOTING. 

who have made the Avonderful, exquisite, unparaL 
leled excellence of the canvas-back a matter of 
superstition. It is indeed as excellent as any 
duck, and for luscious richness the ducks at least 
equal any other description of bird. The canvas- 
back is a great deal better in proportion to the 
praises heaped upon it than the brook-trout is ; 
for whatever sport they may give to the angler, 
the " speckled beauties " are nothing like as good 
to eat as many other fish not thought much of 
Fashion, however, goes a great way in these mat- 
ters, and few are as candid as the Irishman, who, 
having gone some distance in a sedan-chair with- 
out a seat, replied, in answer to the question 
how he liked it : 

" Faith, but for the name of the thing I might 
as well have walked ! " 

The mallards winter in the south for the most 
part, though a few remain on the Sangamon all 
the cold season, unless the weather is very in- 
tense and the frost so long continued and rigid 
as to freeze up all the springy pools of that 
river. When they come north in the spring, a 
few remain with us and make their nests in the 
Winnebago Swamp and the bottoms of the San- 
gamon River and Salt Creek. But the vast ma- 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 173 

jority, after remaining with us some time, go 
still further north to breed and rear their young. 
Their northern limit is in a very high latitude. 
The mallard is the most beautiful of all ducks, 
except the wood-duck, and naturalists are agreed 
that the common breeds of domesticated ducks 
have sprung from the former. It crosses readily 
enough with tame ducks, to my knowledge, and 
the produce of the cross are prolific, though wild 
and apt to go away with the wild mallards i:i 
the fall. The mallards with us make their 
nests about the middle of April in an average 
season. When out snipe-shooting about the 1st 
of May, I have found mallards' nests already 
containing seven or eight eggs. The nests are 
built near the water in some secluded marsh or 
lonely swamp, on tussocks of grass near the edges 
of sloughs, and in wet river-bottoms. And some- 
times I have found the nest of the mallard on the 
margin of a pond in the prairie or the pasture 
fields. The nest is nicely made of dry grass 
and sedge, and by the time the female is ready 
to sit it is lined with soft, loose feathers, just 
as the nest of the tame duck is. The eggs are 
from twelve to sixteen in number, in color of 
a greenish blue cast, and very much like those 



174 FIELD SHOOTING. 

of the tame ducks which lay greenish ])lue 
The eggs of some sorts of tame ducks are a 
shining white, as if glazed. The broods of young 
mallards, the flappers, are first seen about the 
10th of June. There are commonly from eight to 
twelve in a brood. The little things are active 
and cunning from the first. If they are pursued, 
they dart swiftly under water, and, swimming 
beneath to the bank, just put their bills above 
the surface and lie quiet. When they are some- 
what bigger, they go out upon the margins of 
the streams and ponds, and hide in the grass. 
About the middle of October the young mal- 
lards arc full grown and well feathered so as to 
be able to fly fast and far; The drake is a 
little larger than the duck, and a large one will 
weigh nearly three pounds. Widgeon and the 
two kinds of teal alsc> breed with us to some 
extent, but their nests are seldom found. In the 
Winnebago Swamp there are a few nests of the 
broadbill or spoonbill. The pintail does not breed 
with us, and 1 believe not on this side of the 
arctic regions. 

If the winter is broken, the ducks begin to 
arrive from the south by the middle of Feb- 
ruary, and in an early spring they are found in 



WILD UrCKS AXD ^TRSTERX DUrK-SITOOTIXO . 175 

tlioiisaiids l)y the 1st of Marcli. When they first 
come to the prairie States in the spring, they 
are in poor condition, but after feeding about the 
corn-fields a short time they become phimi^ and 
fat. Ducks, wild and tame alike, are great feed- 
ers, and will be found eating in the evening 
long after other birds have gone to roost. The 
mallards and pintails fly from their roosting- 
places on the water to the fields at early morn- 
ing, and on wet, cloudy days remain in the 
corn-fields all day. They are so numerous that 
the fields appear at such times to have ducks 
scattered all over them. On clear days they do 
not remain in the fields on the feed all day, 
l)ut return to their haunts on the water about 
nine or ten o'clock. In the afternoon they fly 
to the corn-fields again about three or four o'clock, 
W' hen they first come from the south ; but after 
being with us some time their evening flight to 
the fields is not made till sundown, and some- 
times not till it is nearly dark. The mallards are 
then paired off, but not so the pintails. When 
not in the corn-fields, both kinds are about rivers 
and ponds. 

The blue-winged teal and the green-winged, 
with the widgeon, use more about sloughs and 



170 FIELD SHOOTING. 

streams. They do not come into the corn-fields 
muc'li. and are shot along rivers and creeks. 
1 have, however, seen these small ducks flying to 
the coi'n-fields when it was nearly dark. At times, 
when ponds in corn-fields are enlarged by rains, 
and the Iom" places in the fields are overflowed, 
many teal resort to them. From such places, at 
break of day, 1 have often pnt np hundreds of 
teal and hundreds of other kinds of ducks. A 
great many teal and small ducks, such as blue- 
bills, are shot on the Calumet River, and Abe 
Kleinman gets his full share of them. Mallards, 
canvas -backs, and red-heads are sometimes shot 
there too, but the smaller ducks are those which 
commonly prevail. The spring clucks remain with 
us from four to five weeks, but after the great 
multitudes have gone north some straggling 
parties still remain. Mallards pair by the middle 
of March, and the teal next. The other kinds 
of ducks are later, and 1 do not think they have 
paired up to the time of their leaving our lati- 
tudes for the higher ones in which they breed 
in most cases. 

About the last of September the ducks begin 
to arrive from their breeding-grounds in the far 
north. Some are seen before that time, but they 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 177 

are those which have stopped with us to breed, 
and the broods they hiive produced. There is no 
great abundance from the arrivals until pretty 
sharp frosts have set in, which is generally about 
the middle of October, but some seasons not till 
lat^r. Still the main body seems to hold off, 
and it is not until cold weather has set in 
fairly that the ducks come in vast numbers. Then 
they may be heard all night flying to the south- 
ward in large flocks, and a great many alight 
and tarry by the way. Sometimes the whole 
country appears to swarm with them. In places 
on the prairies and the great pastures where 
corn in the ear is dumped down by wagon- 
loads to feed bullocks, I have seen acres 
thickly covered with Canada geese, brant geese, 
mallards, and pintails. As a rule, shooting is not 
allow^ed in such places, because it scares the 
cattle ; but the owners and herdsmen have some- 
times shifted their droves to another place, in 
order to give me a chance to shoot the wild 
fowl congregated thereabouts. Then I have had 
grand spots. 

The fall ducks remain until the country is 
mostly frozen up ; and in an open fall they are 
with us in large numbers until nearly Christmas. 



178 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Some mallards stay on the Sangamon all the 
winter, unless the season happens to be particu- 
larly severe and the cold very steady and in- 
tense. When the fall ducks arrive, they are in 
fine condition, having fed on the wild rice of 
the north, and the young mallards are delicious 
eating at that time. I know of nothing better, 
and of hardly anything else as good. 

Duck-shooting is often rough, wet work. 
About the rivers and sloughs it is necessary to 
be more or less in the water, unless the shooter 
has a ])oat ; besides which, the ducks secured are 
necessarily wet and draggled. Shooting ducks in 
the corn-fields, as they come to feed, is differ- 
ent. The shooter can usually manage to keep 
toleraldy dry, and the ducks shot fall on the 
ground instead of iu the water. But even then 
it requires consideral)le fcti'titude and much skill 
and patience. People who want to sit by the 
fire on cold, wet days, when the wind blows 
strong and keen, are not cut out for duck- 
shooters. When I go out for duck-shooting on 
their feeding-grounds, I first ascertain by observa- 
tion the fields they are flying to and from, and 
the places they cross the bounds at. Ducks are 
like sheep in some I'espects. Where one flock flies 



WILD UUOKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 17l> 

the others follow, keeping the same general route, 
unless they see something to make them swerve 
from it. 1 then select the best spot I can find to 
lie down in — that is, the one most screened from ob- 
servation and beneath the line of flight. A rub- 
ber blanket being spread, down I go on my back, in 
clothes the color of the grass or ground I lie on. 
This is ail essential point. It is useless to expect 
the ducks to continue their flight over an object 
in dark clothes lying upon faded grass, or over a 
man in light clothes lying upon black ground. My 
shooting suit is corduroy, with a cap of the same ; 
and as it is about the color of the grass, corn- 
stalks, and weeds late in the fall, it answers very 
well. If the shooter has no corduroy clothes, let 
him wear a linen duster over his dark clothes. 
The latter may do very well for a patch of black 
ground in a corn-field, or a dark ground at a 
crossing-place : but usually corduroy can be made 
to suit anywhere by a little care in selection, 
because dead grass and weeds nearly everywhere 
prevail. A man in dark clothes by a pond in 
the prairie would not get a duck in a day, no 
matter how numerous they might be in the 
neighlM>rhood. Ducks are wary birds and very 
far-sighted. But sojjie men seem to believe that 



180 , FIELD SHOOTING. 

the ducks are as foolish and as thoughtless as 
themselves. They post themselves in places 
where the color of their clothes is in strong 
contrast with everything else around ; and when 
the ducks sheer off wide as soon as they see 
them, the shooters in question blaze away out of 
distance, and never touch a feather. I have been 
out with men under circumstances in whicli they 
said that the ducks all came to me as if they 
knew me. The simple cause <>f it was that I 
lay down in a suit of corduroy, and they were 
stretched out in clothes black enough for a 
funeral. If a man going to shoot ducks on the 
prairie, by the ponds and sloughs, has no corduroy 
clothes and no duster, let him go to the grocery- 
store and get a coffee-sack or two to make a 
smock. That material is just the right color. 

In regard to corn-fields, it must be noted that 
the ducks appear to frequent those most in which 
the stalks are broken down. In these no ])lind 
can be made. If one is made, the ducks will not 
come near it. The shooter must be down on his 
back, his feet towards the quarter from which the 
ducks are coming, and wait until they get OA'^r 
him. In a field where the corn-stalks are still 
standing a thin blind may be made of them, but 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DDCK-SHOOTING. 181 

more ducks, other things being equal, will be 
killed in the broken-down corn without a blind 
than in the other with one. When the shooter sees 
the ducks coming, he must not mOve himself, nor 
must he move his gun, which young beginners 
always have a strong inclination to do. If the 
man moves, the ducks approaching in the air see 
his movement. If the gun is moved, they catch 
the glance of the light upon it in time to sheer 
off and balk the idle discharge of the too im- 
patient shooter. AVhen the ducks are seen com 
ing, the man on the ground should lie quite still 
until they are over him, or almost over him. He 
should then rise quickly to a sitting posture, at 
which they will check their forward flight, and 
tower up into the air. That is the right time to 
shoot — 1 may say the only time, in this descrip- 
tion of the sport, in which there is a real good 
chance of killing. Pie who is trying for ducks 
in this way must not expect to be able to get on 
his feet to shoot. If he tries to do so, he will 
kill no ducks. He who cannot rise to a sitting 
posture from his back and shoot that way must 
wait for the ducks on his hands and knees, and 
shoot kneeling. It does not much matter which 
of these modes is adopted — although lying on the 



182 FIELD SHOOTING. 

back is the best <>f the two — but it is essential 
that the shooter should make no move until the 
ducks arc nearly over him. It is also abso- 
lutely necessary that his clothes should be of the 
color of the ground he lies on, for otherwise the 
ducks never will be over him. 1 have killed many 
thousands, and consider these to be the great 
points upon which the sport depends. When 
there is snow on the ground, the overdress of the 
shooter should be white, or nearly white, and a 
white h,*ndkerchief should be tied over his cap. 
At times when there is sr.ow on the ground the 
ducks resort largely to the corn-fields, and the 
sport in them at such times is usually very good, 
provided the shooters carry it on in the right 
way. 



CHAPTER XI. 

DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 

In the spring of the year, after the ducks have 
come from their wintering-places, there is often 
some very cold weather, and, though all but the 
running streams are frozen over, the wild fowl 
never go back again, if they can possibly avoid it. 
Their instinct is ^'ery strong against turning to 
the southward at that season of the year. At 
such times, and at any other times, when the ice 
is thick, a good blind may Ijc built of it near the 
open water, and much sport may be had. The 
shooter must of course expect to be cold, and he 
will be very cold while waiting for ducks in hard 
weather, especially when he waits a long time in 
vail). But the coming In of the ducks in good 
flights raises the spirits, stimulates the circulation 
of the blood, and revives the warmth of the body. 
1 have sometimes got so cold that I could hardly 
charge my muzzle-loading gun ; but good sport 
soon changed that. The shooting along the Illi- 
188 



184 FlKLl) SIIO()TIN(}. 

liols Kivi'i- is vci'v o()(k1 iiult'cd. and thorc are inoiv 
caiix as-hac'ks and rt'ddu'ads there than there are 
about the Saiiiiaiiion <>i- In the iieiglihorhood of 
Elkliai't : hilt my faNoi'lti- amo.ii>- ducks. Avhethei' 
joi' sport or the table, is the plump. heaA'v, l)eauti- 
lul mallard. 

As 1 remarked before in alluding to the coloi- 
I'f the duck-shooter's clothes, ducks know a good 
deal more than some of t\\v men who go after 
them. You may see some of the latter select 
lor theii- shooting-place a corn-field in which thi' 
stalks are all broken down, and there they go 
to work and build a standing blind of the stalks 
'' Li vain is the net of the fowler spread in 
sight of the bird." The ducks have probably 
flown over that iield dozens of times, and notic- 
ing this blind — a thing there new and strange — 
they sheer off from it instead of flying on to 
go over it or near it, and the man inside of it 
gets no shots within killing distance. When I 
see that a man has built a blind in such a 
place, I jnst take advantage of his ignorance and 
folly by going and lying down some hundred 
and fifty or two hundred yards on one side of 
it. All the ducks that sheer off* from it on that 
side I get a shot at. In this way I have often 



DUCKS AND WKSTKHN DICK-SIKX iTI N<i. I H5 

kilU'i\ twfiitv <))• tliirtv. wiiilf thr luaii in tlif. 
I)liiid never g(A a duck. Soiuetiiiies the maii in 
the blhid seeing this would make shots out of 
all distance, more for the purpose of scaring th(j 
•lucks from ]iu' thau with any hope of bringing 
them (]<)\vn himself Whoi that has heen the 
case, I have left him to his own devices, and 
(one to another part of the fiehl altogether. It is 
necessary to remark for the information of Eastern 
readers that the corn-fields of Illinois are commonly 
very large, and not like the small enclosures of 
the Atlantic States. The former sometimes con- 
tain as much as a thousand acres without any 
intervening fence. Production on this great scale 
tends to keep game plentiful in two or three 
ways. The farm-houses are far apart, which is 
one thing. As long as the corn-stalks are stand- 
ing green these fields afford capital cover for 
pinnated grouse and quail, as remarked hereto- 
fore. Another thing is that they afford ahundance 
of food for grouse, quail, turkeys, geese, ducks, 
etc. Some parts of the summer the birds get a 
plentiful supply of insects in the corn. hi the 
fall of the year and winter, and in the following 
spring, the grouse, geese, and ducks feed largely 
on the corn itself, there being always some scat- 



186 • ■ FIKLIJ SHOOTING. 

tefed about, even in tlie fields from which the 
ears liave l^een hauled oli". 

Duck-shooting in the corn-fields in the fall is 
fine, pleasant sport. At that season many of 
the stalks are still standing, and plentv' of places 
may be found to hide. Besides, the ducks arc 
not then very wild, and the majority of tliem 
are young birds which, not having been shot at 
a great deal, are not as wary as the old stagers, 
who remember the shooting on their passage 
north in the spring. An excellent place at this 
time of the year is on the windward side of 
an Osage orange hedge, near where they cross 
on their way to feed. When the wind is blow- 
ing against them, ducks Hy low. With the wind 
nearly dead ahead of them, the shooter on the 
windward side of the hedge will get plenty of 
shots at low-flying ducks as they come over, and 
need not take the trouble to lie down in the 
corn at those times. Rainy, misty, windy wea- 
ther is the best of weather for this method. On 
such days the ducks are flying low and going 
into and out of the corn-fields all day. In clear 
weather they fly higher, but still low in their 
evening flights, coming out to feed. Sometimes 
the flocks will be seen high in the air, as it 



DT^CKS AND WESTERX DFCK-SHOOTIKG. ISl 

setting out on a long migratory flight; 1)ut com- 
ing r>ver a oorn-field, they will saii around, shut 
their Mings, and come sloping to the ground. 
Ducks generally sweep round in a circle l>efore 
settling down. A pond or little slongli in a 
corn-field is a capital place to lie for ducks. 
The shooter must lie down on the bank, as in 
other places. I have killed from three to foui 
dozen ducks in an evening's shootinoj in a corn 
field, and that often. 

One thing I have noticed which will be of great 
importance to beginners in duck-shooting. It is that 
they alwaA's seem to l)e nearer than they really are 
when in flight. Allowance must T)e made by the 
shooter for this deceptiveness of appearance as to 
distance. When 1 have killed a duck, I have often 
been surprised to find how far it fell from me. 
One that seemed to l^e but thirty yards oft' woidd 
turn out to be forty-five. It was not the momen- 
turn of flight after being hit that could account for 
this, as such ducks had commonly stopped in their 
forward progress, and were towering up when shot 
at. Ducks also seem to be lower than they 
really are when seen in flight, and this is especi 
ally the case in some sorts of weather. In some 
states of the atmosphere they will seem to be 



188 FIELD SHOOTING. 

much nearer than at other times Avhen the dis- 
tance is actually the same. In nine cases out of 
ten, when a man shoots at ducks flying over him, 
they are higher in the air than he believes them 
to 1)6. 1 have often seen men fire at ducks 
which were so high and so far ofl' that the 
flock would not change its direction at the re- 
port, and just kept on, seemingly looking down 
contemptuously on the foolish shooter. In the 
spring of the year and late in faW, when the 
ducks are heavily feathered, a side shot is best 
for penetration, as it may take efTect under the 
wing. When shooting from a blind, it is l>est to 
let the ducks pass a little before firing. When 
the shooter is lying on the ground, the turn 
made by the ducks as they tower up gives better 
chance of penetration; but the grand secret of 
penetration is a hard-hitting gun of good weight 
and calibre, and plenty of powder. 

In the prairies there are many ponds and 
sloughs, and the waters are generally well up in 
them when the prime of the time for shooting 
ducks comes in the spring and fall. At such 
places it is advisable to use decoys, and with 
these well set out a man may shoot on and oif 
all day when the ducks are flying about. Wooden 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTINC;. 189 

decoys, painted to represent ducks, are used l)y 
many people, but 1 prefer something different, 
more natural than the joiner and painter can turn 
out. I have killed hundreds of dozens of ducks 
shooting over decoys, and the best I ever used 
were tame ducks of the color of the mallard. 
Three of these, a drake and two ducks, I used 
to fit with a piece of leather on the leg, and a 
string five or six yards long for each. I then 
staked them out in shallow water, so that they 
could not come nearer than four or five feet of 
the bank, and lay down. They were, in my 
opinion, much better than any dead decoy, whe- 
ther duck or wood. After being used as decoys 
for some time these ducks seemed to under- 
stand what was required of them, and to enter 
into the business with interest. They would swim 
about and play, and 1 had one pair that would 
call to the wild mallards when they saw them 
going oA^er. 

The next best thing to these tame live decoys 
for the waters of which I am writing is the 
dead mallard itself. As soon as 1 got a couple, 
when not employing the tame ducks, I put them 
out, and sometimes T haxo had as many as fif- 
teen dead ducks out as decoys together. Sue- 



190 FIELD SHOOTING. 

cess greatly depends ii.pon the way in which they 
are set out; though set out in the most artful 
and natural manner, they arc not as effectual as 
tame ducks of the mallard color, because these 
last swim al^out, and the ducks flying above see 
them in motion. I have sometimes killed as 
many as seventy or eighty ducks in a day's 
shooting with decoys of dead ducks. My method 
of setting them out was as follows : Having 
killed the duck and got him on the bank, take 
a stick, or, on the prairie where there are no 
sticks, a reed, or the stalk of a strong weed, 
^vhich is there l)ig and stiff". Sharpen one end to 
a point, which insert under the skin of the duck's 
breast and along up the neck, just beneath the 
skin, into the head. Do this so that the head 
holds a natural position to the body, and the 
neck is not aw^ry. Then wade out and plant the 
other end of the stick in the mud over which 
there is a foot of water or a little more. The 
body of the duck must then rest on the w^ater, 
as that of a live duck does, and, after having 
smoothed the feathers nicely, the shooter returns 
to his lying-down place on the bank. It is best 
to keep on setting these dead decoys until you 
have seven or eight out ; and if you largely in- 



DICKS AND WESTERN DT'C K-SHOf)TTNfi. 191 

<"rease the iuiml)or, it will be simply ;ill the 1x4- 
ter. 1 make no blind by the pond oi- sloutjh. I>ut 
lie on the grass, nnless there is brnsh or a 
growth of willow to hide in. Neither do I ever 
Avait for the dneks to settle, but shoot while they 
are still on the wing. One day at Skunk's Island, 
in the great Winnebago Swamp, I Icilled a hun- 
dred and thirty dueks (►ver dead-duek decoys set 
ont after the 2>lan I have described, and in that 
day's shooting- 1 nevei- hid at all. 1 sat on a 
imiskrat-honse all the time, sometimes, however. 
lying down. It made no difference whetlier 1 hiy 
or sat, for the dncks were flying thick, and in the 
humor to "come and l)e killed," as the old song 
has it, which says : 

" Old Mother Bond got up in a rage, 
Her pockets full of onions, her lap full of sage ; 
And she went to the pond, did old Mother Bond, 
Crying, ' Dill, dill, dill ! dill, dill, dill ! 

Come and be killed ! 
The guests are all met, their bellies must be filled.'" 

On the occasion to which 1 have alluded I was 
out of ammunition before night. It was late in 
the fall, when large flocks fly, and two or three 
ducks may sometimes be killed by one barrel. 



192 FIELD SHOOTING. 

The place called the Inlet, at the east end of the 
swamp, some miles from Skunk's Island, is famous 
ground for ducks. The Winnebago Swamp is 
very extensive. What i^ called the Outlet runs 
into Green River, all along which stream there 
is very good duck-shooting. In the big pastures, 
which are sometimes four or five miles long and 
one or two miles wide, there are often ponds at 
which the bullocks being fitted for market drink. 
At these ponds great shooting over decoys is often 
to be had. On Mr. Sullivant's great farm in Ford 
County there are many ponds and many extensive 
corn-fields, and I found one spring that the shoot- 
ing of geese, ducks, and crane there was very good 
— so good that I mentally resolved to go there 
again next season. In two days' shooting, morn- 
ings and evenings, not over decoys, but as the 
wild fowl came to and went out of the corn-fields, 
1 killed sixty-five mallards and pintails, mostly 
mallards, five brant geese, twenty sand-hill crane, 
and three large white crane. Yet i was told that 
the ducks and brant had mostly all gone north 
before I was there, and that they had been much 
more abundant than they were in the tw(» days 
1 shot. Mr. Sullivant's foreman saw my ducks 
and cranes at the station^, and made his remarks 



DL'CKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 198 

to this effect : " They said that as you were a 
pigeon-shooter, you would not be successful in the 
field. I have, however, seen no such lot as that 
at any time this season, and yet the ducks are 
now scarce to what they have been." 

This farm of Mr. Michael Sullivant's is the 
largest in Illinois, I think, and I am convinced 
that it is one of the " best neighborhoods in the 
State for game. From what I saw, pinnated grouse 
abound, there are lots of quail, and in the mi- 
gratory seasons great flocks cf ducks, geese, brant, 
and cranes. The estate Avas purchased by Mr. 
Sullivant some years ago, when it was mostly un- 
broken prairie. It is eight miles square, contains 
about forty-four thousand acres, and twenty-six 
thousand acres of it have already been brought 
under cultivation. Twenty thousand acres of it 
were in corn last year, and I dare say more will 
be this year, while three thousand acres Mere in 
smaller grain, and three thousand in meadow-grass. 
Mr. Sullivant, the owner and farmei* of this ex- 
tensive and fertile tract, was formerly the largest 
landowner in Franklin County, Ohio, and very 
likely is so still. His father was one of the first 
settlers near Columbus, the capital of Ohio; in 
fact, he lived just west of the Scioto River, op- 



194 FIELD SHOQTING. 

posite where the State House now stands, Ijefore 
there was a house in Columhus at all ; and his 
younger sons, Joseph and William, still reside in 
that city. The Illinois proprietor is the eldest 
son of the old pioneer. The family is famous for 
culture, enterprise, and the uncommon personal 
beauty of its members. They are a tall, pow^er- 
ful, handsome race ; and prolml)ly in all the vast 
regions of the West not a tribe excels this family, 
in all its branches, in stature, symmetry, strength, 
and beauty. U]>nii this Illinois farm there are 
three hundred miles of Osage orange hedges, which 
are yet young. Let tlie s])ortsmen remember what 
has been said of the hedges as affording nesting- 
places for game-birds, protection against hawks, 
and facilities for shooters, and they may conceive 
what these three hundred miles of hedges will do 
when they have grown tall and thick. Now to 
come back to the ducks. 

On the large streams, such as the Mississippi 
and Illinois rivers, it is commonly necessary for 
the duck-shooter to use a boat, and it is hardly 
practicable to use any but decoys of wood, painted 
to represent the sort of ducks expected. Upon 
these rivers 1 have killed canvas-backs, red-heads, 
mallards, and some few black or dusky ducks. 



DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 195 

I have not been out much «>u these large rivers, 
however, but have shot more in the corn-fields, 
on the sloughs and ponds about the prairies, in 
and about the Great Winnebago Swamp, and on 
the Sangamon and Salt Creek. Sometimes when 
a man is out after other sorts of shooting, espe- 
cially snipe, he will find that the ducks are in 
snch numbers, and frying in such a way, that 
he may abandon his intended pursuit, and turn 
his attention to them. His shot will be smaller, 
on such occasions than he would have chosen 
for ducks ; but with plenty of powder to drive 
them at high velocities, he will get penetration, 
and bring the wild fowl down. Once upon Salt 
Creek, near where it falls into the Sangamon, I 
was out after snipe, and noticed that the mallards 
were flying in such a way as to afford a fine 
chance. 1 had nothing but No. 9 shot, but de- 
termined to try what could be done. This was 
in 1868. The edge of the creek was well timbered, 
and, choosing my post, I seated myself on a log 
among the trees and brush. There was a light 
snow on the bottoms some three inches deep, 
and the snipe' had to get near the margins of 
the streams to feed. I could have killed a good 
bag of them, but the ducks offered a chance-- 



196 FIELD SHOOTING. 

much too teiiipting to be neglected. I could not 
forego the opportunity, and sitting upon that log, 
and shooting as they flew until all my ammuni- 
tion was expended, I killed and secured ninety- 
live mallards. Some few, which fell on tlie other 
side of the creek, I did not get. With plenty 
of cartridges and a breech-loader 1 believe I 
could have killed two hundred ducks. They 
were all mallards. The date was April 7. 
Most of the mallards flew in pairs, and their 
route was towards the north. 1 have no doubt 
they were beginning their migratory flight from 
our neighborhood to the high latitudes. 

In hard, severe weather, when the Mind is 
strong and keen-cutting, it is to be noted that 
ducks and other water-fowl are apt to seek the 
protection of the timber. At such times they will 
be fomid in creeks whose banks are well wooded, 
and about ponds m the timber. In these places 
the shooter need not go to the trouble of build • 
ing a blind. There are in such situations so 
many old logs, stumps, etc., that if he sits down 
in clothes of the proper color, the ducks will 
not make him out in time to change the di- 
rection of their course in flight. Thus on the 
great day at Skunk's Island, in the Winnebago 



DUCKS AND WESTERN Dl rK-SHOOTIS<4. 197 

Swamp, and on tliat of Salt Creek, [ had no 
blind, and did not hide myself in any particnlar 
manner. In the first ease I sat on a muskrat 
house all the time ; in the second I was seated 
on an old log while all the shooting was done. 
It is, however, necessary that the shooter should 
keep still ; for the ducks will see any movement 
a long way off, and they know that stumps of 
trees and the like do not move. In cold 
weather, when the ducks seek the timber for 
shelter, they fly very fast ; he who can kill 
three out of every four shots he makes is a 
good marksman, and will have all the ducks he 
will want to carry far on his back. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 

Among the wild geese to be found in the spring 
and fall in the States of the great Mississippi 
Valley, there are at least tAvo varieties which are 
common in the same seasons on the seahoard of 
the Atlantic States. These are the Canada goose, 
the common wild goose, known almost every- 
where, and the brant goose. But besides these, 
we have in the Western States vast numbers of 
small geese of other varieties, which we commonly 
call Mexican geese. As many as three of these 
differ in their plumage, and, though found in the 
same flocks apparently, are no doubt the following : 
Hutchinson's Goose, the White-Fronted Goose, and 
the Snow Goose. As mentioned above, they are 
only known by A¥estern sportsmen as Mexican 
geese. We have, then, five or six varieties of 
wild geese in Illinois, Iowa, etc. Of these the 
Canada goose is the largest and finest, and it 
used to be much the most numerous. It is a 
198 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS, 199 

handsome bird, weighing when fat from ten to 
fourteen pounds. It winters in the south, and on 
its passage towards the north does not stay with 
us a great while, though a few remain all the 
summer, and I have seen the nest of this goose 
in the Winnebago Swamp. Their great breeding- 
grounds are far to the north of any of the habi- 
tations of white men, or even of Indians. They 
have been seen above the latitude of eighty north, 
and were even then flying on towards the pole. 
In those solitary regions, during the brief arctic 
summer, the several kinds of wild geese rear their 
young in vast numl^ers, and. when in the fall they 
set out upon their southerly migration, they fly in 
innumerable flocks. They usually fly high, and, 
though their flight seems to be labored, it is very 
swift for so heavy a bird. In foggy weather their 
flight is low, and they appear to be confused, as 
if uncertain of the proper route. They intermix 
freely with tame geese, and the cross is much 
esteemed for its size and excellence on the table. 
Canada geese are rather easily domesticated, but 
even then the instinct of migration northward in 
spring is so strong that they get uneasy. Some- 
times when not pinioned they rise into the air 
and join flocks going ovei-. and sometimes they 



200 FIELD SHOOTING. 

wander off" and are shot as wild geese. A cross 
of the Canada goose no doubt improves the do- 
mestic goose in beauty and flavor, if not in size, 
and it is easy to procure it by means of wound- 
ed ganders, pinioned and turned down with the 
tame geese. 

The Canada goose is not so al)undant in Illinois 
in the migratory seasons as it used to be. When 
I first settled in that State, there were vast flocks 
of these geese all over the country in the spring 
and late in the fall. In the daytime they were 
mostly in the sloughs and bottoms, and there they 
roosted at night, but they came out mornings and 
evenings to feed. They are very fond of corn, and 
consume large quantities of it. The reason why 
they are now less abundant in Illinois is the thicker 
settlement of the country. The main column 
of the Canada geese now take a more westerly 
route towards the south, crossing Minnesota, Kan- 
sas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the country up the Mis- 
souri River. But there are a great many in Illi- 
nois still at the right times of the year. The 
Canada goose comes earliest of all the great 
tribes which migrate from the south in the spring, 
and, considering that most of them have to fly 
over a space covering more than fifty degrees of 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 201 

latitude before they reach their breeding-places, 
it may be supposed they cannot stop very long 
with us in their vernal flights. As to the few 
which remain all the winter on the Sangamon 
River and in other wild places where there may 
be open water, they are too insignificant to count 
for much. The Canada geese come in their great 
flocks in February, with the first freshet or open 
Aveather, and remain till the middle of March, as 
a rule, while a few linger along until April comes. 
They come before any of the ducks, and they go 
on north before them. The AVinnebago Swamp is 
n great resort for the wild geese. Formerly they 
used to breed there in considerable numbers, but 
of late years their nests in that quarter have been 
few. They may, however, still be found by those 
who penetrate into the marshy recess they choose 
for their breeding-places. 

When the wild geese arrive in the spring, they 
are commonly lean, but, after having fed on corn 
for a little space, they gain flesh and become in 
go();l order. A favorite resort of theirs in the 
spring is the great pasture-lands. Upon these 
thousands of bullocks have been fed all winter on 
corn in the ear. Bullocks are wasteful feeders, and 
much corn lies shelled around. This the geese 



202 FIELD SHOOTING. 

pick up and fatten upon. In such places the flocks 
alight in the middle of the wide pastures, and are 
very hard to get at. Oftentimes the first notice 
we have of the arrival of the wild geese is their 
hoarse call in the air, as they fly by night. When 
great flocks of the various kinds of wild geese are 
coming north in spring, or going south at the near 
approach of winter, they may he heard calling to 
and answering each other nearly all night long. 
The Sangamon used to be a capital place for wild 
geese, and there is still good shooting there. 

The best situation for the shooter is behind a 
hedge or in a bunch of weeds at a fence near their 
crossing-places as they go to feed. It is best w^hen 
they arc flying to windward. The wild geese have 
regular crossing-places, and these may be easily 
ascertained by watching the flights of the flocks. 
The shooter must go to his station very early in 
the morning, before they begin to fly. They fly 
very early, especially if the weather is warm and 
pleasant. In cold, windy weather they are later. 
Commonly they are on the wing about break of 
day, and 1 have seen them flying when it was stilf 
so near dark that I could hardly tell whether a 
flock was Canada geese, brant geese, or the so- 
called ^Mexican geese. When the wild geese come 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. "-iOS 

over their crossing-places well in the air, the 
shooter must find some means of concealment. If 
there is no hedge under which to crouch down, he 
must lie on the dead grass or in the weeds, 
w^ith clothes of the proper color to deceive the 
geese and elude the watchful eyes of their leaders. 
The weeds are often three feet high and thick, and 
in these cover for the shooter may be found. He 
must keep quite still until the geese, windward 
bound, are right o^er him. If he does not do so, 
his movement will be seen, he will hear the cry 
which gave notice to the sleeping Romans of the 
stealthy footsteps of the Oauls, and he will find, 
whether he shoots or not, that the geese have saved 
the Capital. On windy mornings wild geese fly 
very low, often not more than fifteen or twenty 
feet from the ground. In calm, clear weather they 
are much higher. Nothing can be done at the 
hedges and fences in such weather, and the shooter 
must then go to the corn-fields where they feed. 

A field in which the corn is cut up and shocked 
affords a promising chance. The shooter may build 
a little house of corn-stalks like a shock, in the 
row of shocks, and get inside of it. Some men 
get behind a corn-shock, but the plan is not a 
good one. In circling round the field one of the 



204 FIELD SHOOTING. 

geese see:; lilrn, and- the others keep away, sheeT 
off wide. The little blind made like a shock of 
corn is best, but it must be made ready in the 
daytime, or in the night season before the geese 
have begun to fly. In wet, misty weather the 
wild geese remain about the corn-fields nil «l;iy. 
and then from a bli)id propccly made tlic Acry 
l)est shooting nniy l)e had. I have killed eleven 
Canada geese before breakfast in one of Mi-. 
Gillott's corn-fields, not more than a mile and a 
half from Elkhart. 1 went out to the field on 
horseback, and tethered my horse to a fence. 

hi windy weather the l)est shooting is at the 
crossing-places, and the shooter must choost^ his 
place and method according to the weatlier. On 
the large pastures the best plan is to use a horst 
and buggy. The wild geese may be seen sitting 
in the pastures and in the prairie when they are 
a long way ofl". The shooter must drive briskh 
on, as if he was going past them, on the wind- 
ward side, gradually drawing nearer, but never 
heading directly towards them. If he does the 
latter, the flock will fly, although he may be as 
much as two hundred yards from them. When 
the shooter is opposite the geese, he pulls up the 
horse with one hand, drops the reins, and raises 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 205 

his gun. The geese start to fly, but they cannot 
rise down-wind, and, getting up against it, as thoy 
must do, they come towards the gun. Then is 
the time to fire ; but beware of miscalculating the 
distance. Geese look very large on the prairie. I 
have seen men shoot at geese, believing them to 
l)e within killing distance, when they were certainly 
not less than two hundred yards away. 1 have 
also seen them fired at in flight when they were 
so high in the air that they passed without no- 
ticing the shot. Yet a goose may be killed at 
a great distance with large shot if it happens to 
be hit in a vital part. 

i once killed one at a hundred and nineteen yards 
with a BB cartridge. The ground was measured, 
as I knew it was a very long shot. It was a chance 
shot. I had driven on the flock two or three times, 
and had been unable to get within distance. 1 drove 
for them again, and, seeing that they were just 
going to fly, I pulled up and let go one Ijarrel 
just as they rose. Of late years I have killed as 
many by driving for them with a smart horse as in 
any other way. When shooting in this method, 
1 once killed five geese with the two barrels, and 
have often killed from ten to fifteen a day from the 
buggy. The greatest number I ever killed in a day 



206 FIELD SHOOTING. 

was twenty-three. That was in a corn-field where the 
corn was in shock, and 1 shot from such a blind as 
I have described above. It was near Elkhart, and 
on one of those wet, misty days in the spring on 
which the Canada geese are flying about and feed- 
ing all day. I generally use No. 1 shot lor geese. 
It is quite large enough with plenty of powder to 
drive it home. In shooting geese from a blind 
the shooter must keep quite still until they are 
near enough. When he has killed, he must pick 
up the goose and return to his blind. 

When young wheat is among the corn-shocks, 
the small grain having been sown the previous fall, 
it is a favorite resort for wild geese. A live de- 
coy — a wild goose that was winged, and which has 
been saved for the purpose — may be staked out in 
the field, and the geese will come down to it. In 
the fields of early spring wheat, where there are no 
corn-shocks, there are sometimes many geese. They 
eat off" the green plants, and the farmers, thinking 
them an intolerable nuisance, used to put up scare- 
crows, as people do in some parts to keep away 
swamp blackbirds and crows from young springing 
corn. In such a Avheat-field the shooter may dig 
a hole, and, smoothing over the ground, get into 
it and wait for the geese. If it is too wet for that, 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 207 

he may sink a large barrel oi- small hogshead, and 
from that get very nice shooting. From a barrel 
placed in a marsh known to be a good resort for 
geese, much shooting may be had all the spring 
season, but it must be planted there before the 
wild geese have come from the south. It is better 
than boat-shooting, and perhaps better than any 
other plan, taking the spring season all through. 
When a hole is dug in a wheat-field to which the 
wild geese have taken, it should be made soon 
after their arrival ; and when they get used to it, 
much nice shooting may be had there. 

But the best shooting at Canada geese, and the 
best geese for the table, are in the fall of the year, 
when the young geese come on from the far 
northern regions in which they have been bred. 
Their arrival is not looked for until we have had 
some stiif frost, and that is usually about the first 
of November. The corn is then just being cut 
up, and the fall wheat is well out of the ground. 
At first the wild geese go upon the young wheat, 
and they eat it ofF close sometimes. When the 
corn has been shocked and left on the fields, they 
go into that. The various kinds of wild geese, 
ducks, a«d cranes consume a great deal of corn. 
In some wet places I have known them to eat a 



'20^ FIELD SHOOTING. 

third of the crop. Later on in the winter the 
wild creese do not go into the standing corn, as 
wihl ducks do. The former are equally wary and 
more shy, and they will not go into places where 
there seems to be afforded a chance to crawl (^n 
them. In regard to their roosting-places wild 
geese are cunning and secretive. They mostly 
clioose for their sleeping-places large, wet marshes 
and the margins of ponds in big bottoms, where 
there is open water. AVhen there is ice in the 
marshes and on the ponds, they roost on that. 
These roosting-places are generally far away from 
the settlements, and in places that are almost in- 
accessible. A few flocks still roost near the ponds 
in the Salt Creek and Sangamon bottoms. These 
bottoms are more than a mile wide in some places. 
and the bottoms of the Illinois and Mississip])i 
Rivers are wider still. Crane Lake in Mason 
County, a wild, marshy place, is a favorite roost - 
ing-place for wild geese. 

When a roosting-place has been found, capital 
success may be looked for. It can seldom be 
found except by watching the flights of wild geese 
nights and mornings, having a good knowledge 
of the country, and using proper judgment. The 
shooter goes to it at sundown, and, lying down in 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 209 

the grass with clothes of the propei- hue, waits for 
geese. They eome in late in the evening, and 
keep eoming, flock after flock, until nhie or ten at 
night, and sometimes until eleven. On Mr. Sulli- 
vant's tract, in Ford County, before they are 
much shot at, the wild geese roost about the 
ponds in the prairie ; Init when they have been 
disturbed there a few times, they go further off 
to wild places in the extensive swamps. Wild 
geese do not frequent timber-land, except when 
the weather is very cold and blustering, or 
when there is a fall of snow. At those times 
they go into the timber along creeks and rivers, 
and may be found there. 

Some vears ago I and three others found out 
that there was a small roosting-place on the 
Sangamon River just below the mouth of Salt 
Creek. There came a sudden frost and intense 
cold weather, with some snow. We knew that at 
such a time the river would be frozen over near 
the place the geese frequented, and that they 
would roost on the ice. At break of day we got 
up, and drove in a sleigh three miles to where 
we knew the wild geese would be found. In 
such weather they do not fly before nine or ten 
o'clock in the morning. The river was low, and 



210 FIELD SHOOTING. 

before we got to the bank we could hear the 
flock of geese, on the ice below, chattering in the 
cold. There was heavy timber on both banks, 
and we crept up in it on our side until we 
were within about forty yards of the pack of geese 
on the ice below. As we raised ourselves up, the 
wild fowl started to fly, and we put in the dis- 
charge from our eight barrels as they were 
rising, and killed ten. Our guns were muzzle- 
loaders. If they had been Tjreech-loaders, we 
could have charged and shot again, as the geese 
seemed bewildered for a little while, and did not 
fly straight away. Now began my bad luck. 

The wild geese, as a matter of course, fell 
on the ice. It was what is called slush 
ice, which is none of the strongest, but weak 
and treacherous even when thick. My companions 
were afraid to go out for the dead geeso, and I 
had to go, though the heaviest man of the party. 
It is my habit, when out shooting, hardly ever 
to let my gun be out of my hands, and it was 
now lucky that in going on the ice for these 
geese I carried it with me. I had brought some 
of the geese to the bank, and gone out for the 
balance. The furthest two I got, and was just 
stooping to pick up the last when in 1 went. 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 211 

I had gone in a sort of air-hole, which, being 
covered with broken ice and snoM^, I had not 
perceived. The river was twenty feet deep, and I 
came near being drowned. However, by means 
of the gun in one hand and the three geese in 
the other, I got such a spread on the ice that 
1 did not go clean under. Two of my com 
panions were so scared by the suddenness of the 
occurrence and the danger of the situation that 
they could do nothing. The other got an old 
ten-foot rail, and, shoving it to me, enabled me 
to struggle to the bank, gun, geese, and all. The 
cold was so intense that my clothes were all frozen 
stiff the minute after I was out of the water. It 
was three miles to a house and a stove, and 
before we got there I was like a solid six-foot 
chunk of ice. I then got on dry clothes, wrap- 
ped myself in a blanket, took a seat by the fire, 
and drank half a pint of strong whiskey, neat. 
I was soon all right again ; but when the blood 
began to circulate in the numbed parts, the pain 
was intense for the time. I did not even take cold 
from that ducking. 

Being much in the water, however, in the West- 
ern country, entails something Morse than a cold, 
if not worse than rheumatism. I mean the ague- 



212 FIELD SHOOTING. 

When I first went to Illinois, I shot many geese; 
and if one fell in a pond or slough, I waded in 
waist-deep to hring it out. The old settlers 
used to tell me that it was a l)ad practice; but 
I had never been sick in my life to any degree 
of importance, and had no fears. But after being 
there a year, out in all sorts of weather, and 
often in and out of the water two or three times 
a day, I caught the ague, and had it eleven 
months. It was not the mild ague, such as pre- 
vails to some extent on the Atlantic coast of 
the Northern States, but the po\verful Western 
afifue, which shakes a man so that his bones al- 
most rattle as well as his teeth. In the course 
of the eleven months it was broken up several 
times, but always came back again. Now, there 
are a great many infallible remedies for the ague. 
I took about a score of them, but didn't get well. 
At last, however, I got hold of the real thing. It 
cured me, and much experience of it since for 
sixteen years has convinced me that it is the 
best thing in the world to cure the complaint. 
It is not a patent medicine. The editor of this 
book, to whom I am relating my experience, and 
M^ho had experience of the shakes himself in 
Michigan from July to Christmas, says he wishes 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 213 

it was, as we could get five hundred dollars, in 
th-at case, for this notice of it. It is simply 
lemon-juice and Holland gin. Squeeze the juice 
of five or six lemons into a quart of gin, and 
take a good dram of it three times a day. It is 
not only pleasant, but effectual, and it will cure 
as well as prevent the ague. At the same time 
avoid getting wet as nmch as possible, especially 
in the ponds and sloughs. 

Shooting brant geese is much the same in 
method as shooting Canada geese. They are 
about half the size of the latter, and very good eat- 
ing. There is this difference in their habits : the 
brant do not go so much into fields where the 
corn is shocked, but use more where it is not 
cut up, but the stalks are much broken down. 
In the early spring a man may see acres of such 
corn-fields covered with brant. To shoot them 
there he must lie down as I have directed for duck- 
shooting in the like places. With the brant, at 
least in close proximity, will be found what we 
call Mexican geese. They are about the same 
size as the brant, and though there are at least 
four kinds, to judge by the plumage and mark- 
ings, they are in flocks all mixed up together. 
Sometimes there will be half a dozen brant i:i a 



214 FIELD SHOOTING. 

flock of these mixed Mexicans. The latter are 
more numerous now than either Canada geese or 
brant. They have increased in number of late 
years, not oidy relatiyely, but absolutely. Just 
before they go off northwards in the spring the 
mixed flocks of these geese pack together on the 
prairies and on rather elevated spots until there 
are three or four thousand in a body. They leave 
in these great packs. AYhen they have gathered, 
and are preparing to set out on their long flight 
they may be seen to rise and circle round so as 
to cast a shadow on the ground like a cloud. 
These geese fly ])y night. They ahvays seem to 
arrive in the night, and they leave ])y night. 
They utter a ditterent cry trom Canada geese and 
from l»rant, and arc much more noisy than either. 
When, in their flight through the air, they go over, 
or nearly over, the lights of a t«.»wn or village, 
they make a great row. On the table they are 
plump and nice, as good as lirant. but to my 
thinking not as good as the Canada goose. That 
is the king of the wild geese ; more juicy than 
any other, as well as twice the size. The great 
mixed flocks of Mexican geese present a mottled 
appearance when clearly seen. Some are pale 
blue in color, some grizzly gray, some have white 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 215 

heads ami ii(.'<'ks, sniiie are all white except the 
ends of the wings, which in them are black. 
If any naturalist of New York, Boston, or Phila- 
delphia would like to have a specimen of each of 
these geese, 1 can send them. 

There are two kinds of cranes plentiful in Illi- 
nois in the spring and fell of the year. The most 
abundant is the sand-hill crane, a well-known 
bird. With a body as large as that of a goose, 
he stands upon long legs, so that he is four and 
a half or five feet high. They winter in the south, 
and go to high northern latitudes to breed. A 
few nests are made in the Winnebago Swamp, but 
only a few. They do not resort about water much, 
although they choose their roosting-place near it. 
In the spring they are first seen very high in the 
air, circling round and uttering loud cries, so high up 
as hardly to be perceived. In my opinion, they 
fly higher than any other bird, not even excepting 
eagles and ^idtures. When the cry of the crane 
is heard coming out of the sky, as it were, people 
know that winter is quite over, and that warm 
weather is going tr> come in shortly. When seen 
sitting on the prairie in flocks, they look like 
sheep at a distance. 

They arrive with us according to the season, 



216 FIELD SHOOTING. 

usuall}' about the tenth of March, and stay a month. 
Like the wild geese and ducks, cranes frequent the 
corn-fields for the purpose of feeding. The few 
nests made in Illinois contain l)ut two eggs, and 
one of the old birds is always on the watch near 
them. They return in the fall about the same time 
as the wild geese, but do not then fly so high as 
in the spring ; perhaps it is because many of them 
are young l)irds. In the fall they are first seen 
out on the prairie, and a yery unwelcome sight it 
is to the farmer ; for they are very hard on his crop 
of corn, much of Mhicli is then cut up and shocked 
in the fields. Boys are employed to keep them 
away. I Ikuc often seen large pieces of corn-land 
in shock when all the cars on the outside had been 
shelled and eaten, not a kernel left. They stay 
as long as the wild geese, which is until real hard 
Meather sets in. Cranes are easy birds to shoot 
when you can get a fair shot at them, but they are 
wary and shy, keeping a good lookout all th(i 
time. It is of no use to lie down in corn for them. 
They can see further and better than any other 
bird I know. The immense height at which they 
fly in the spring has convinced me of this. To 
sh<jot them, when they have been shot at and made 
shv and warv, one of two methods must be fol- 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND S\VAN3. 217 

lowed. By watching their flights to and from 
corn-fields their crossing-places may Lc found. 
At one of these the shooter must post himself 
under an Osage orange hedge on the windward 
side. Then he must wait for a lot to come over. 
In windy weather and going to windward they 
fly low and slow, and are very easily hit. But 
it takes hard hitting to kill them, as they are 
thickly feathered. When going for cranes, I use 
No. 1 or No. 2 shot in my cartridges witli strong 
charge of powder. Some think heavier shot neces- 
sary, but I know they are not. At Mr. Sullivant's 
farm in Ford County, last spring, I shot twenty 
sand-hill cranes and three of the large white 
variety. 1 had no larger shot than No. 6, having' 
gone without expectation of getting any shooting 
except at ducks, mallards, and pintails. 

There were, however, large numbers of cranes, 
and T found out that they roosted near ponds in 
the neighboring prairie. I knew then that I could 
get close shots when they came at dusk. Loading 
my cartridges for that shooting with six drams 
of powder and an ounce of shot, and taking post 
near the edge of the pond, which was from ^ne 
to two acres in extent, I waited for their coming. 
The first evening I killed seven sand-hill cranea 



218 FIELD SHOOTING. 

and the three large white ones, and the next night 
thirteen of the sand-hills. The large white crane 
is bigger than the sand-hill, and sometimes attains 
the enormous weight of thirty pounds ; that is, 
he weighs as much as two good turkeys. It is 
pure white, except the ends of the wings, which 
are black. The largest of the three I killed was a 
magnificent specimen. He measured seven feet eight 
inches across the wings, stood five feet ten inches 
high, and weighed thirty j)ounds. I gave it to 
Mr. Gillott, of the great farm near Elkhart, and he 
had a description of it published in the Lincoln, 
Logan County, paper, headed, " Captain Bogardus's 
Mammoth Crane." 

It is hard to get within shot of the w^hite crane. 
They are seldom killed, except near the ponds, 
when they come to roost at night. It has a very 
keen as well as far sight, and nothing but the fact 
that it is almost dark Avhen they oome to the 
roosting-place enables the shooter to get a chance 
at them. A crane of either kind winged will 
make a desperate fight, and is a dangerous custo- 
mer for the unwary to deal with. If man or dog 
comes within striking distance, the crane aims at 
the eye with his sharp-pointed bill, some six inches 
long. The bird will drive his bill into a dog as 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 219 

if it were a dagger. I have had a dog that had 
never 'seen crane before go in to catch one that 
was winged, but he came out again after getting 
one stroke. The white crane is not nearly as 
numerous as the sand-hill. Its habits are the 
same, but there are only from eight to twelve 
in a flock. I never saw a nest .of this crane, 
and l)elieve it never Ijuilds in Illinois. 

Both the cranes are fine eating. The meat is 
dark, and the breast, when well hung and properly 
cooked, is as fine as the best venison. At one 
time I thought they were good for nothing, but 
a circumstance happened which changed my opinion 
altogether. I was out shooting pinnated grouse 
late in the fall with a companion, and we camped, 
or rather took shelter, slept, and cooked in a herds- 
man's hut which had been deserted. The cattle 
had been driven away, and the hut was tenant- 
less. It was on the Delavan prairie. I killed a 
sand-hill crane, and hung it on the fence by the 
hut. It remained there eight or nine days and 
as many frosty nights. We had good sport, 
plenty to eat, and forgot all about the crane. 
But on the evening of one day, on which we had 
sent all our game away in the afternoon, it was 
found that by an oversight we had reserved none 



220 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



for our suppers and breakfasts. I then remembered 
the crane, and going to the fence I picked the 
breast, and cut it off in slices or steaks. These 
we fried in butter. There was a prairie road or 
track running by the hut. It Avas commonly but 
little used, but on this occasion, while the steaks 
were being cooked, a man and a woman came by 
in a buggy. As she caught the rich flavor from 
the hot pan, the woman said, "Those men must 
have something very good to eat." She was right. 
When we came to our crane-steaks, we both 
thought we had never eaten anything so good in 
our lives. It is true that the frosty air of the 
prairie late in the foil sharpens the appetite, and 
true that we were hungry, and hunters at that ; 
but it is also true that .the steaks were delicious 
eating. The meat was rich and juicy, and it had 
been frozen and thawed a suflicient number of 
times to make it very tender. Since then, if a 
crane was within shot, I have never let him get 
away, if I could help it. The flesh of the white 
crane is quite as good as that of the sand-hill 
kind. 

Cranes need to be hung for a long time be- 
fore being cooked, and almost all game is the 
better for being hung, if the weather is cool or 



WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 



^21 



cold. Perhaps snipe and woodcock may be excep- 
t'ums. You can hardly hang pmnated grouse too long 
when they keep sweet. I have eaten them a month 
after they were killed in the winter, and none 
could be finer. Quail are all the better lor 
beino- hung. So are Canada geese and other wdd 
geese, together with mallard ducks and wild tur- 
keys. Of course young grouse shot in August 
oi- the warm days of September cannot be hung, 
and they are very good eating when cooked fresh, 
but not better than winter grouse hung a long 
time, stuffed, roasted, and eaten with bread-sauce, 
made gravy, and hot, mealy potatoes. 

A few pelicans are shot along the upper part 
of the Mississippi River. Occasionally a small 
flight of swans come over Central Illinois, and 
sometimes they alight in the Winnebago Swamp 
or the Sangamon bottoms ; but these occurrences 
are rare. My brother once killed three late in 
the fall on the Sangamon bottom. They were 
going south, and alighted at a pond where he 
was lying for geese at roosting-time. At a place 
in the Winnebago Swamp called Swan Lake they 
sometimes alight on their passage. I have never 
killed one. Going down the Mississippi last win- 
ter, I saw, from the steamboat, many swans in 



222 FIELD SHOOTING. 

the bayous and on the sand-islands. At New 
Orleans I was told by Mr. Charleville, the gun- 
smith, that there was a fine place for shooting all 
sorts of wild fowl below the city, called The 
.Dump. I saw plenty of mallards, there called 
French ducks, in the market. 



CHAPTER Xlll. 

WILD TURKEY' AND DEER SKOOTING. 

Of all the feathered oranie that runs and flies, 
the Mild -turkey of America is the noblest and 
most beautiful of which 1 ever heard. In one 
sense the ostrich of the Aralnaii desert or the 
emu of the Aust)*alian plains might l)e deemed 
an exception. They, however, do not fly; and 
though their size, plumage, and fleetness invest 
them Avith a sort of grandeur, and their feathers 
are valuable as ornaments for the head-dresses of 
ladies, they are neither so beautiful nor so useful 
and excellent as food as the wild turkey. In- 
deed, the flesh of the latter is hardly surpassed by 
anything in succulence, richness of flavor, and nutri- 
ment, and it is vastly superior to that of any tame 
turkey that ever was fed and roasted or boiled. 
It is well known that the tame turkey is de- 
scended from the wild turkey of America. Before 
the .discovery of this continent the bird was un- 
known in Europe, and had never been seen in 
Turkey in Asia. It may be easily domesticated, 

383 



224 FIELD SHOOTING. 

and a crosfi of the wild gobbler with tame hen- 
turkeys always improves the flock in size and 
excellence. 

At one time the wild turkey was plentiful all 
over this country, from Texas to Canada, and 
from the eastern seaboard to the peaks of the 
Rocky Mountains, in such localities as furnished 
it with its favorite sorts of food and aflbrded 
the cover in which it delights. Now, however, it 
is hardly to be met with to the eastward of West 
Virginia, and it cannot be said to be still abun- 
dant in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, 
etc. In those States wild turkeys were once very 
plentiful, and a consideral)lc number are still to be 
found in a few localities in each. In Iowa, Mis- 
souri, etc., there are more wild turkeys now than 
in the States first mentioned. One would suppose 
there must still be a few in the western parts of 
New York and Pennsylvania, but I am not certain 
that there are. 

The wild turkey is a l)ird of the forest rather 
than of the prairies or the plains. It makes its 
haunts in timber-land, large pieces of woods, and 
groves, and betakes itself to thick brush and the 
neighborhood of impassable swamps to breed. It 
comes out, however, at night or at earliest dawn, 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. SZ^y 

and feeds in the corn and wheat fields in the lall, 
and many broods are sometimes seen together in ;i 
pack a hundred strong, led by old gobblers. In 
the beech and maple woods it feeds upon beech- 
nuts with great relish, and, indeed, its principal 
food in winter is the berries of the bushes an<l 
the '• mast " of various trees. The wild turkey. 
though so gregarious, is shy aixl a wary, fast- 
running bird, hardly ever taking t<> the wing if 
it can avoid doing so. When closely pursued by 
a dog or impeded by deep snow, it is com- 
pelled to flight. 

It is found in Illinois in the timber and thick 
brush to be met with on the banks of rivers and 
creeks. The wild turkeys used to be very numer- 
ous iu and about the bottoms of the Sangamon 
River. I have killed a great many there myself, 
one of which was a famous gobbler of twenty- 
seven pounds weight and magnificent plumage. 
They are now scarce, difficult to find, and hard to 
kill. Following turkeys on their tracks iu snow, 
which has been my usual method of hunting them, 
is hard work. In the great v\'oods of the forest 
countries the favorite method is to find the flock, 
scatter it all around by means of a dog, and 
then in ambush imitate the call of the turkeys 



226 



FIELD RHOOTTNf; 



until thev como near enough t<» ho shot with a 
rifle. 

There used t«> ]>e many turkeys in the tim- 
ber at Lake Fort, some seven or eioht miles 

o 

from Elkhart, and a few may l)e foimd there yet. 
fn the woodlands of North Missouri the wild 
turkey is still rather abundant, and it will he 
found wherevei- there is timber and })rush all 
through Missouri, Kansas. Arkansas, the Indian 
Territory, and down through Texas. Wild turkeys 
are also found in Louisiana. Alabama. (Georgia, 
and Florida. They <lo best in warm weather, 
though they are furnished witli a full eoat of 
feathers, and can stand the cold of c»ur northwest- 
ern States and Canada. 

I have often found the wild turkey's nest. It 
is made in the timber, among thick brush, and 
very often by the side of an old log. When 
the hen wdld turkey leaves her nest, she covers 
it up with leaves, just as the tame hen- turkey 
will do when she has made a nest under a 
hedge or in the brambles near a fence. Some 
years ago, when wild turkeys abounded more 
than they do now, great numbers of their eggs 
were taken from their nests and hatched imder 
hens. The young ones thus obtained were very 



WILIJ TUKKEY AiNL. DEEK SHOOTING. 227 

much like young tame turkeys in their habits 
until late in the fall. Then, from roosting in 
trees and rambling about, they often left the tame 
turkeys, and went oft' with the wild ones. In 
secluded places the wild turkeys often mingle 
with tame flocks. The gobblers are not pugna- 
cious with each other, though they will fight with 
game-cocks, and sometimes, by superior weight 
and strength, worry out and kill the best. 

Formerly I used to shoot turkeys in the old 
method of calling them up, after having scat- 
tered them, to an ambush, and using a small- 
bore rifle or a shot-gun loaded with buckshot 
or with BB cartridge. That plan answers best 
when the turkeys are young. Latterly I have 
waited for turkey-shooting until the winter weather 
had well sert in, and gone only when there was 
snow on the ground. The method is to find the 
tracks of a flock in the snow, and follow them 
up. Turkeys in snow, with a man following in 
their track, soon begin to tire a little, if the 
snow is damp and no crust on the top of it. 
After some time the hunter, who must be a good 
walker and capable of standing much fatigue, 
will see where one of the turkeys has diverged 
from the route of the flock. Following the track 



228 FIELD SHOOTING. 

of the single turkey, it will he found that after 
having gone a little way, commonly not more 
than two hundred yards, and often less, it has 
squatted under thick brush or in the toj^ of a 
fallen tree. As he draws near, it will start to run 
or to fly, and it must then he shot. In this sport 
I use No. 1 shot, which is (juite hig enough. A 
turkey going to fly is compelled to run eight 
or ten feet in <u'der to get headway before 
rising from the ground, and I have often shot 
them in the head before they could take wing. 
After having killed his turkey, the hunter must 
take up the track of the flock again, and go on 
after it until he sees that another has diverged. 
As I remarked before, it is much the best to 
follow this sport when the snow is damp, for 
the turkeys then tire the sooner, and are more 
inclined to hide and squat. No dog is to be 
used. lie would be worse than useless. 

Another good time for turkey- shooting is when 
it is snowing hard. That, of course, is no good 
time for tracking ; but while the snow is falling, 
fast, the wild turkeys sit around in thick brush 
or in the thick top of a fjdlen tree. They are 
*^hen easily approached ; l)ut the hunter must 
know the country well, and be familiar with 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 



229 



the places where the flocks habitually resort. If 
the hunter does not know the country well, and 
is after turkeys in a thick snow-storm, instead 
of finding them, he will be likely enough to get 
lost himself. 

When a flock of wild turkeys is being followed 
by tracking, they often take wing; and there, of 
course, their tracks end. But they generally fly 
straight ahead, and the hunter may usually hit 
their new tracks after they have alighted and 
gone on again on foot. Although they fly straight, 
they do not travel straight when on foot, but 
sometimes wind in and out very much. Com- 
monly their tracks will be found again within 
three or four hundred yards of where they took 
wing. The hunter will see where they made the 
quick run before rising. By that he may judge 
very nearly the direction of their flight, and fol- 
low it. 

When there are creeks and ravines which tur- 
keys must cross on the wing, they almost always 
go over at the same places. In such a case as a 
creek running across a narrow belt of timber, or 
a ravine intersecting it, advantage may be taken 
of this habit of the turkeys. There must be two 
hunters. One must post himself at the crossing 



230 FIELD SHOOTING. 

uudt'i- covej-. aiul tlie other go three or four miles 
up, and drive the wood down to it. If there are 
any turkeys in the upper part of the timber, the 
man at the crossing will be certain to have a 
good shot or two. 

When I first lived in Illinois, I used to hunt 
turkeys a good deal on the Sangamon, in the 
right kind of weather, generally preferring soft 
snow or a fast-falling snow-storm. I generally 
killed some turkeys — some days only two, on 
others three, fom*, five, and six, and a few times 
as many as seven. One day I was tracking 
turkeys in only about three inches of snow. 
They did not tire, but travelled fast, and some- 
times took flight, so that following them was a 
weary business. I had been after them nearly 
all day, and was nearly " tuckered out." I had 
often been in sight of them, but never near 
enough for a shot. But as evening drew on 
apace, and roosting-time approached, the turkeys 
began to call. They had ti-a veiled all day, and 
were glad to halt where they were. By wait- 
ing and stalking between calls I shot four. 
They weighed from twelve to eighteen pounds 
each, and I had to carry them and my gun 
three miles to get to a house. It was a very 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 281 

hard day's work, and nothing but downright 
perseverance enabled me to get any turkeys at 
all on that occasion. When the going is good, 
a flock of turkeys will beat a man by endurance. 
They are great ramblers in the daytime, but 
nearly always come back to the same roosting- 
place at night. 

On another occasion I was out after turkeys 
on the Sangamon on a thick, snowy day — just 
the sort of day for a man to get lost in tim- 
ber and a wild, broken country. 1 then lived 
seven miles from Petersburg, and in following 
the turkeys round bluffs and across barrens on 
the edge of the timber I was several times in 
sight of that place. Still the tracks went on 
winding about until they led to a place where 
there seemed to be some every way. There 
were others besides myself hunting turkeys in 
that timber, and we sometimes took the tracks 
ahead of each other. It was then snowing 
rather fast, and of course the tracks were all 
fresh. The flock I was on tired in the after- 
noon, and I killed two about four o'clock. I 
then found T was lost. It was still snowing, 
and night was coming on. The first thing to 
be done was to keep on as fast as I could in 



•23*2 FIELD SriOOTING. 

one (lireftioii, so as to get out of the timber. 
The turkeys 1 had killed were very large ones 
— twenty pounds each. However, I trudged along 
through the snow% and at last got clear of the 
woods, and found out where I w^as. It was not, 
however, as 1 had expected, between Petersburg 
and where I lived, but at Indian Point, from 
which I had a walk of thirteen miles home. I 
do not think I ever was more tired than I was 
that night when I reached home. Travelling in 
snow is not easy Walking, and tracking turkeys 
in it is emphati(.'ally hard work. 

I went out one day to hunt wild turkeys near 
the mouth of Salt Creek in seven or eight inches 
of wet snow, the weather being mild and the frost 
giving, so that the snow jjacked. 1 came upon 
the tracks of a flock of turkeys, and, after fol- 
lowing them for some time, I killed tw'o. Tak- 
ing up the main trail again, I noticed the ti-ack 
of one very large turkey, a real great gobbler. I 
had heard other men speak of having been on the 
track of a very large turkey about there, but none 
of them had ever been able to come up with 
him, though they had killed others out of the 
flock he led. 1 now determined to do my best to 
get him, and. resolved not to go oflf* after stragglers, 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 233 

unless he left the route of the flock himself. 1 
followed the track, winding through brush, and 
sometimes went across very rough ground — over 
which the turkeys flew — for as much as ten miles ; 
but in the timber of the bottom I was unable 
to come up to the gobbler. The other turkeys 
in the flock appeared to have straggled oflf, and 
the old, wily gobbler, often hunted and very fast, 
and strong as well as large, was alone. At last 
he left the bottoms, and the trail led up into 
blufls and ravines where the brush was very 
thick and the snow in places <^uite deep. I think 
many men would have given it up then, for the 
ground was extremely difficult to enter into after 
the ten-mile tramp from where 1 had struck the 
trail first, but 1 determined to persevere. In fact, 
I had now strong hopes <)f getting the turkey, 
being convinced that he would not have entered 
this groun<l if ho had n«jt been tired. After go- 
ing some distance among the bluffs and thickets 
of the ravines, the gobbler stj[uatted under an old 
tret'-top. He would be dead beat and want rest 
sorely before he would do that, I knew ; still, I 
looked foi- him to appear at any moment from 
some such place, and kept my gun ready, both 
locks cocked. He would get wind again while i 



234 FIELD SHOOTING. 

was coming up on his track, and be ready foi a 
quick bolt. As 1 advanced on the trail, I heaid 
a movement among the top brush of a fallen 
^;ree, and out went the turkey. He was probably 
sixty yards away from me when I saw him so 
as to shoot, but I took a long shot, and hit him 
hard with the right barrel, following it with the 
left instanter to make sure work. I think the 
first barrel would have been enough, but I was 
very anxious to get him ; and as I knew that if 
he was only winged he would run until he 
dropped dead, I gave him the second barrel. He 
was the most splendid specimen of the wild tur- 
key I ever saw, and I have seen a great many. 
He weighed twenty-seven pounds, was quite fat, 
and the beard — the tuft of hair which hangs from 
the breast — was eight inches long. The beauty 
of his plumage on the neck, wings, and breast 
is indescribable. It glittered with a score of hues 
of metallic lustre — gold, green, purple, brown, etc. — 
and these tints cast rays like those which flash 
from the feathers of the humming-bird. 

It was in the belt of timber in which this 
gobbler was found that I then lived. On tw^o 
occasions there I shot Jit a turkey on the wing 
with a rifle, when out after deer, and killed. 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 2;$;') 

When turkeys are too wild to be shot with 
a shot-gun, it is of little use to track them at 
all. Resort must then be had to the method of 
calling them up, and here the rifle may be used. 
Except for very long shots, however, the shot- 
gun is as good as the rifle, oven whm the tur- 
keys are called up within distance of the shooter, 
and in one important matter better — there ai-e 
two barrels to one, and a miss may be mended 
with the second. 

The best day of turkey-shooting I ever had was in 
Missouri, on Shoal Creek, not a great distance from 
the town of St. Jo, on the Missouri River. I went 
to that quarter on a regular shooting expedition, 
prepared to stay some time. John D. Lindsay, 
an old hunter, went first in order to look about 
the neighborhood around St. Jo, and ascertain 
what the prospects were. He wrote to me that 
there were plenty of wild turkeys, deer, and othei- 
game in the region round about Cameron, Lynn 
County, and desired me to join him. I lost no 
time in doing so, and was accompanied by Colonel 
Roberts, who wanted to camp out. We took my 
tent. Arriving at Cameron in the morning, I hired 
a team. We took the tent and other things out 
to a suitable spot about three or four miles from 



236 FIELD SHOOTING. 

the town, and there prepared to camp. We pitch- 
ed our tent on a creek ])ottoin, near enough to 
the bank to make it handy to get water, and at 
the foot of a hill covered with scrub-oak. In 
selecting n place for a camp in cold weather 
the main things to look after are shelter 
iVom the northwest winds and close prox- 
imity to wood and water. I had no camp-stove 
then, and it was necessary to keep up a big 
fire near the mouth of the tent all night, so that 
plenty of wood was required. The country for 
miles around was successive hills and hollows, 
with scrub-timber in places and much brush, 
called barrens. Having pitched the tent and 
plied our axes for wood, Lindsay ' and 1 left 
Colonel Roberts to put things to rights, took our 
guns, and went to look about a little. In less than 
half an hour 1 killed two turkeys. This was a good 
beginning. 

We returned to the tent, where Colonel Roberts 
speedily distinguished himself as a capital cook. 
Having picked and cleaned a turkey, he desired 
me to put up two short stakes with forks at the 
upper ends pretty close to the fire, while Lind- 
say was required to furnish a thin, straight stick. 
With this last the colonel spitted the turkey, and 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING, 237 

the ends of the spit being hiid in the crutehes of 
the uprights, the bird couhl l)e turned slowly 
before the fire with little trouble. A pan placed 
beneath caught the gravy and dripping, and with 
this the turkey was basted from time to time. 
It was a most excellent roast, and a wild turkey 
cooked in this way before a big, quick fire 
beats one that is baked in an oven all hollow. 
We feasted well that evening, but in the night 
we rather suffered, as I shall relate. 

We had to rely on a large fire in front of 
the tent for warmth, as I had then no tent-stove. 
Of late years I have always been provided with a 
small, cheap stove and pipe, which could be put 
up inside. The tent being then closed all round, 
and a small fire kept up in the stove with hard 
Avood, it is as warm inside as in a house. Such 
a plan is much better for convenience and com- 
fort than my old system. The fire in front of 
the tent has to be eight or ten feet oflf. for fear 
that the canvas may take fire if it is nearer, 
and on a cold night it does not do much good. 
In Missouri at that time the nights were very 
cold. We had to lie with our heads under the 
blankets to keep our ears from being frozen. In 
the morning our boots were as stiff' as if they had 



238 FIELD SHOOTING. 

been made of iron instead of leather. We hunted 
every day with more or less success. 

In a few days there came a fresh fall of snow, 
some seven or eight inches, and Lindsay and I 
went out prepared to take advantage of it. We 
breakfasted at break of day, and set out for Shoal 
Creek, which was three miles distant. It quit 
snowing as soon as it got to be daylight, so that 
when we reached the l)anks of the creek the 
tracks, if any w^ere found, would l>e fresh. About 
eight o'clock in tlie morning we cjuuc upon the 
trail of a large flock of turkeys. They hv^d begun 
to move about as soon as it left off snowing, and 
there must have been from thirty-five to forty, 
perhaps more than forty, in the flock. After fol- 
lowing the track for a while 1 got sight of the 
flock, crept up within distance, and killed two, 
one with each barrel. The turkeys thereupon 
scattered and flew, and some passing near Lind- 
say, he killed one on the wing. Neither of us 
shot with a rifle. Those turkeys had not been 
shot at much, and they were nothing like as wild 
as those of Illinois. It was the best turkey-shoot- 
ing I ever saw. We followed up the main body, 
and every now and then I would go after a strag- 
gler who had left it, and shoot him as he left 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 239 

his squatting-place. At noon 1 had killed eleven 
turkeys and Lindsay three. I got the most shots, 
as I went after the stragglers, while he kept on 
the track of the flock. The turkeys weighed from 
ten to eighteen pounds each. They were not quite 
so fat as our Illinois turkeys commonly are, but 
their flavor was delicious, and their flesh very ten- 
der and juicy— just what that of a wild turkey in 
perfection is. 

We placed our turkeys safe hung in a tree, 
and, going to a house, got dinner, arranging 
with the man that he should take us and our 
game to our camp in the evening with his wagon 
and team. Deer were plentiful thereabout. In 
the afternoon I shot at a big l)uck with turkey- 
shot, and hit him hard. He bled freely as he 
ran, and we followed on his trail. That pre- 
vented us from getting any more turkeys that 
day. We kept on the buck's track for a long 
distance, hoping to get another shot at him. 
We could not do so, how^ever, and the trail 
finally led to a place where there had been such 
a number of deer that day that their tracks 
were all mixed up. We saw three going over 
the brow of a. hill, but they were far out of 
shot. So we concluded to give up further exer- 



240 FIELD SHOOTING. 

tions. and, returning to the house, we found the 
man and his team read3\ ^-^^ ^^^^' road to camp 
we took up our turkeys, and ended a busy day 
with a capital supper by the blazing fire. It 
was . the best day's turkey-shooting I ever had, 
and \VQ could have got more of them if we had 
not been led off on a fruitless chase after the 
deer. With breech-loading guns and buckshot 
cartridges in the left barrels for deer, we could 
have got several fiit ones, as well as the tur- 
keys. 

In the three weeks we were in camj) at 
Shoal Creek we shot between fifty and sixty 
turkeys, not going for them especially, except on 
favorable days, when fresh snow had fallen. 
Our sport in this neighborhood was good in 
every respect, but in one regard we had great 
discomfort. The weather was hard, and we 
were very cold at night. Young sportsmen will 
sometimes read descriptions in which the writers 
say that they slept out all night without a tent, 
the thermometer below zero, and that wrapped 
in their blankets, with their feet to the fire, 
they were ver}- comfortaljle. In my opinion 
this is all humbug. 1 have been out many a 
night, but it was in moderately warm weather. 



WILD TURKEY' AM) DKFAi 8H()()TIN(;. 241 

The thing t(» l>e most apprvhtMisive about then 
is a thunder-storm. 

I was once caught in on*^ in the middle of" 
the night, early in the fall, on the Delavan 
Prairie, which is in Logan County, sixteen miles 
from Elkhart. The unbroken prairie was then 
eight nv ten miles in extent. In tact, there was 
no cultivated land on it, except near the strips 
of timber by which it was bounded. I went 
out in a buggy, and alone, to shoot pinnated 
grouse in the evening, and though 1 meant to 
stay on the prairie all night, and shoot again 
in the morning, I took no tent. A Idanket to 
lay on the ground under the buggy, and another 
to cover me, were deemed sufficient. 

I shot until dark over two good dogs, and 
had fine sport. I then drove to a part of the 
prairie where men had l)een cutting grass for 
fodder, and left it in cocks, and pulled up there 
for the night. I tied the horse to th»' wheel, gave 
him a feed of corn in the bottom of the buggy, 
watered him", and tossed him down a lot of the 
]iew-made prairie-hay. The scent of it pervaded 
the air of the space all around, and was very 
sweet and grateful. I got my own cold supper. 
and, lying down under the buggy with the dogs 



242 FIKLD FHOOTTNO. 

near me. 1 soon fell asleep. It M^as a still night, 
no air stirring even on the open prairie where J 
was when I went to rest. But about one o'clock 
there arose a strong wind, the forerunner of a 
mighty storm. 

Awakened hy the change in the weather. I got 
up, and, looking to windward, saw an immense 
black cloud looming high up towards the zenith, 
and coming on at a rapid rate towards the prairie. 
Knowing very well what it meant, and seeing the 
forked lightning already darting down from it, 
while the rumble of the distant thunder overbore 
the rushing of the wind, 1 })iled up a lot of hay 
around tlu^ biiiijc^v to windward, and s^ot under it 
again. 1 had not l^eeu there many minutes when 
the storm burst witli fearful fury, seemingly right 
over mv head Then eame liifhtning, thunder, and 
torrents of rain altogether, as it were. The light- 
ning was so vivid and so rapid that the horse 
got scared and trembled, the dogs cowered and 
crept closer to ]ne, and I was much alarmed. The 
lightning ran round the tires of the wheels, so 
that the wagon seemed to bo shod with fire. It 
lit up the prairie at every flash, and the flashes 
were almost continuous, so that I could see 
white houses live or six miles ofl' as plain, or 



WILD TURKEY' AND DEER SHOOTING. 243 

plainer, than I could l)y day. The thunder-claps 
were so heavy that it appeared as if they ^vould 
split my head open. For more than an hour 
the storm kept on. Then it abated almost as 
suddenly as it came, and I soon went to sleep 
again. This was the heaviest thunder-storm I ever 
experienced. 1 was more in fear during that hour 
than I ever Mas before, or than I have been since. 
What with the horse and the dogs and myself 
altogether in a group, the bright tires of the wheels, 
and the steel locks and barrels of my gun, the 
danger must have been great. But, blessed be 
God, it Mas averted ! 

In the morning the dogs rose refreshed, as I did 
myself. They M^orked M'ell. The scent lay thick 
on the M'et ground, and I never shot better. 1 
killed forty-three grouse before the sun got very 
high in the forenoon, and returned home with a 
large bag of very fine birds. 

When men camp out M'ith a tent M'ithout a 
stove, and they keep a large fire in front of the 
tent, as they Mill be sure to do in cold M^eather, 
there is considerable danger that their canvas 
may take fire. I have had three tents burned up. 
A change of wind during the night may blow 
gloMing embers right up to the canvas, and set 



244 FIELD SHOOTING. 

fire to ii, if no one is awake to look after it. And 
twice my tent caught fire in the daytime, when 
we thought there was no danger, and went off 
hunting with no one left at camp. Therefore I 
say to every one who means to camp out on 
sporting excursions, get a nice little stove. The 
cost is small, the comfort large, and, except through 
gross carelessness, there can he no danger what- 
ever. 

To give a description of the common deer of 
this country would be mere folly and imperti- 
nence. It is often supposed that it likes best to 
i-ange in the vast forests, but I l)elieve that to be 
a mistake. Deer are most fond of a country in 
which there are belts of timber-land and brush 
interspersed with ])rairies and savannas. Much 
of that part of Illinois where I lived at first is 
somewhat of that character. When I first w^ent 
to the State, deer were t^^ceedingly plentiful. I 
have myself seen as many as thirty in a herd, and 
men who had lived a long time in that part of 
Illinois, when I went to reside there, told me they 
had seen herds which could not have contained 
less than seventy-five. In the cold weather the 
deer went to the timber for shelter. In the warm 
weather they did not go much to the woodland 




CHAMPIONSHIP BADGE OP THE WORLD, 

Won by Cant. A. H. Bogardus, August 7, 1875. 



246 FIELD SHOOTING. 

to pass the heat of the day, as one might have 
well supposed they would, but they spent some 
hours before and after noonday lying in the long 
grass of the prairie near sloughs, where it grows 
j^articularly rank and tall. 

Deer have been practically exterminated in Illi- 
nois. In the earlier times of my residence in the 
State they used to feed upon the young wheat, 
where fall wheat had been sowed out upon the 
prairie. At about sunrise they might l)e seen feed- 
ing in these fields, and looking like so many calves. 
When it was broad daylight, they retired to Irhe 
long grass near the sloughs, or to thick brush in 
the woodland, or to patches of high weeds, and 
there they would lie until evening. 

The first deer I ever killed was m Woodford 
County, Illinois. I was out Mlth an old hunter, 
who set me to follow the track of the herd, 
and took post himself at a runway, where he 
thought he should be sure to get a good shot. 
But it did not so fall out. I followed a herd ot 
five or six for about three miles, and on coming 
to the top of a hill I saw a deer in the val- 
ley below, standing on the edge of the slope, 
with its side to me. He was about two mia- 



WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 247 

dred vards oii', l)iit I . determined to have a 
crack at him. and. throwing my rifle up, ] took 
aim just behind the lower part of the shoulder. 
Mine was an old-tashioned, long, hunting-rifle, 
with steel barrel, carrying a ball forty to the 
pound. At the shot the deer made a buck-jump 
full ten feet into the air. and bounded away. I 
thought 1 had missed him, but my partner, on 
coming to the spot where he had stood, and looking 
narrowly around, thought not, and determined to 
follow his tracks. The fact was, as he told me 
soon afterwards, that he saw a tinge of blood 
upon the snow on the r>ther side of the place 
where the deer had stood when 1 shot at him, 
and concluded that the ball had gone through 
him. He soon found tliat the deer straddled in 
his tracks and spread his hoofs, and then he 
knew he was badly wounded. The buck \\'as 
found dead two hundred yards from whei-e he 
was when 1 shot at him. The ball had gone 
clean through him. and also through his heart, 
after which he ran two hundred yards. I did 
not hunt deer much at that time, but I was 
soon a good shot with the rifle, and have killed 
a running deer with it. 

I atlerwards became acquainted with a man 



248 FIKLl) SHOOTING. 

named \Vil(").\. \\\\<> was the irj-eatest <Uh I'-huiiter 
ill Illinois. \{r liad a svstciM of" liis own, and a. 
very successt'nl system it certainly was. as he 
managed it. He limited on liorseback, and his 
weapon was a liea\ y double-barrelled shot-gLin, 
^vitll sti-oiii;- eharnes of ]>ow'der and Imckshot. 
Late ill the fall, when the sloughs \vere low and 
held but little Mater, he used to j'ide down the 
inlddle of them. When a deer got up from 
among the long grass on either side, Wilcox 
fired from the hack of the hor&e, and knocked the 
Luck or doe over. 1 .soon found that was the best 
May, and adopted it myself, but I never had as 
much success at it as Wilcox did. The trouble 
was that 1 could neither get a really steady horse 
under fire nor shoot very M'ell on horseback at 
that time. The horse Wilcox used in his hunts 
had been accustomed to it so long that he knew 
just what was wanted, and when the reins were 
dropped he stood like a. rock until the gun 
went off. 

When deer are lying down, it is much easier to 
approach their lair, so as to get a shot on their 
rising, on horseback than on foot. It is now obso- 
lete in our part of Illinois, as there are no deer 
to shoot ; but I shoidd think it might be followed 



WILD TLKKEV AND DEER SHOUTING. *249 

to advantage in Alabama, l.ouisiana, Texas, and 
Arkansas, where there are still plenty. It should 
also be tried in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. 
Even in barrens and timber-land it would be 
better to hunt deer in this way than to still 
hunt for them on foot, if the ground is prac- 
ticable for a horse. In some rugged places a 
horse cannot go : and in wet marshes, morasses, 
and shaking bogs a horse with a man on his 
back w^ould sink in and l)c unable to struggle 
<Ait. In Missouri deer arc generally driven with 
hounds, and shot at crossing-places and runways. 
There are also many killed by still hunting. 

To have any chance of success in deer-hunt- 
ing, it is necessary that the sportsman should 
know the lay of the country and the places in 
W'hich they are likely to be found. A stranger 
to the neighborhood had better get an old hunter 
to go out with him for a few^ days. A know- 
ledge of their habits in the different localities is 
required, and it would take a long time to learn 
these if they were not imj^arted by some one 
who knows them. The deer are now wild and 
shy in most places. They have a keen nose, and 
can scent a man to windward before he can see 
them, which makes it requisite to hunt up-wind. 



250 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Some deer are shot at salt-licks, to which they 
resort at night, and 1 believe the practice of fire- 
hunting is sometimes followed in the south. It 
is not pursued in the West. 




PETER BOGARDUS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 

The practical art of shooting birds on the wing, 
valuable accomplishment as it is, delightful in 
itself, and highly conducive to health and strength 
by leading to vigorous exercise in the fields, is 
readily acquired. Any one who is well enough to 
walk abroad and carry a gun may attain fair pro- 
ficiency in it; for those whose nervous tempera- 
ment prevents this are few indeed, and need not 
be taken into account. Some men, indeed, have 
a natural gift, by means of which, with the great 
practice such gift and its corresponding inclination 
are sure to induce, they become dead shots, the 
masters of the art of shooting. Still, there are 
very few who may not ])ecome good shots if they 
follow proper methods and practice much in pur- 
suance of wise instructions. To begin at an early 
age is a good thing. Many boys can shoot as 
well as men, allowing for the smaller practice and 
shorter experience they have had. The parents 
of gome youths are disinclined to let them have 

861 



;i;>*i FIELD SHOOTING. 

guns for fear of accidents, but there is no ground 
for apprehension on this point. The handling of 
the gun prevents accidents with guns, instead of 
causing them. In those cases we hear of in which 
thoughtless persons shoot their friends accidentally, 
it will be found in nineteen cases out of twenty 
that the gun was not in the hands of a boy or 
young man who shoots in the held, but in those 
of one who only knows a gun by sight, and is 
w^holly unacquainted with the proper management 
of it. It is a million to one that a boy who shoots, 
or is learning to shoot, will never shoot one of his 
sisters or friends. Such things are only done by 
those who have nothing to do with firearms in 
their proper places. The latter have an idea that 
they will kill, but they hardly know how. On 
the other hand, the shooter sees execution done by 
his gun on birds, and, knowing that there is death 
in the barrel, never fools about with it, letting the 
muzzle cover people. Therefore I say that wher- 
ever there is convenience for it parents should 
let their sons learn to shoot, and they need not 
be afraid to do so because their boys are com- 
paratively young. There is no more danger of a 
gun, to himself or other persons, in the hands of 
a boy of fourteen years of age, than there is of 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. *i58 

uue ill the hands of a yoimg man of twenty who 
is equally new to the practice of shooting. The 
boys must begin some time, if they are to shoot 
at all, and to put it off reminds one of the mother 
who declared that her son must not go into the 
water until he had learned to swim. 

I now purpose to give such brief instructions 
to beginners in shooting and young sportsmen, 
together with hints wiiich may be taken advan- 
tage of by marksmen of experience, as I believe 
will be useful. Two of the things essential to 
success in the field are the loading of the gun 
for the different varieties of game, and its hand- 
ling when game is found and takes w^ng. It is 
a common error to use shot of a size larger than 
necessary, and very often there is too much of it. 
A timid man is afraid to put in plenty of pow- 
der, of which there can hardly be too much as 
long as the gun will burn it, and he increases 
the charge of shot under the strange delusion 
that he thus compensates for the deficiency of 
the explosive part of the charge. A gun badly 
loaded is like a bad watch — it deceives and mor- 
tifies its owner. 

The choice of guns has been already alluded 
to, and, I repeat, bew^are of choosing one that ii 



^5 4 FIELD SHOOTING. 

very light. In a gun of more weight the capa- 
city of shooting strong charges with ease and 
comfort, and of killing more game, altogether out- 
weighs the carrying of an extra pound or pound 
and a half. Boys, it is true, must have light 
guns, and there are very nice, safe, good-shoot- 
ing guns made for boys, fn choosing one for your 
son or nephew, however, do not choose a light 
gun of those made for boys. It is not to be a 
j?ort of handsome toy-gun, but a serviceable arti- 
cle, such as will inspire the boy with the confi- 
dence which begets success Pnd leads to skill, by 
hitting and killing whenever it is held right. The 
light single-barrelled guns made for boys do not 
amount to much. It will be better, in buying a 
gun foi a youth who has not had one before, to 
pay more money and purchase a l)reech-loader, sin- 
gle-barrel if he is young and not strong, but a 
double-bj*rrel if he is fifteen years old and fairly 
robust. Generally the height of the youth is not 
to be taken into account in this matter. Many 
boys who are not tall tor theii* .age have more 
strength and en(Uirance than those who are. A 
breech-loader is much more easily loaded and a 
great deal safer than a muzzle-loader, as regard** 
accidents, In the hands o^' either iua)i or boy. 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WIN ^5& 

The gun being provided, the youth to ^\ hom it 
belongs is to handle it, and practise the handling 
of it, just as if it was loaded, until he brings it up 
to his shoulder clean and well, and feels as well 
able to manage it nicely and quickly as he is 
to handle his bat at base-ball or cricket. In this 
practice with the gun he is to be careful that lie 
never lets the muzzle look towards a person. It 
is to be a cardinal principle that the gun in his 
hands, whether charged or not, shall never point 
towards man or boy, woman or girl, in the field, 
or the house, or anywhere else. When the youth 
handles the gun well unloaded, the next thing 
is to load. Young sportsmen in embi-yo must 
begin with light charges. For a breech-loader he 
may use the metal cases for his cartridges, or 
the paper cases if he does not want to use the 
case more than once. The gun-maker will show 
him how to load them, and until he can do it 
properly himself he had better get it done ])y a 
friend who understands it. He will learn to do 
it very easily. 

At first the cartridges for the youth or young 
man must be loaded lightly ; for if they are 
not, and his gun should kick, he may become 
afraid of it, shut both his eyes when he pulls 



!250 KIKI.I) SHOUTING. 

(rigger, hold it unsteadily, and fall into such 
habits as may prevent him from ever becoming 
a good shot. He \\ill already have learned to 
stand npright, with his left foot in advance, and 
his right a little back to brace the body when 
he brings his gun up as if to deliver fire. 

With cartridges loaded with three or three and 
a half drachms of powder and an ounce of shot, 
No. 8 or No. 9, the youth is to go into a field, 
yard, or any safe place, and put up a target of 
paper a foot square against a building, a wall, 
a tree, or a board. He may then retire twenty 
yards, load his gun, take aim right along the rib 
of a double-barrel, along the top of the barrel 
and sight if single, and as soon as he has taken 
aim pull the trigger. I think a boy will usually 
get a quicker and better sight with a double- 
barrel gun than with a single-barrel. In taking 
aim the youth will naturally shut his left eye, 
and this is proper. 1 have heard men say that 
it is best to shoot without shutting one eye. 
For my part 1 cannot see it. One eye is cer- 
tainly quite as good as two when it is taking 
aim along the gun at the object, and I believe a 
good deal better. In snap-shooting both eyes are 
often open when the fire is delivered, but even in 



TFIR ART OF SHOOTTXG ON THE WIXG. '257 

that Jiiost good shots instinctively shut the left 
eye at the instant of firing. 

The youth must load again after his shot, and 
then go up to the target to see how many shot 
he put into it, change the paper, and try again. 
The main points are to get good, quick aim, 
and then fire on the instant, with the gun firmly 
held and well braced against the shoulder. But 
the gun is not to be fired in a hurried, hap-ha- 
zard sort of way without a sight being obtained 
at all. When the object is once sighted, the 
shooter is to fire, and not delay the discharge 
under the notion that he can do better. The first 
sight is the best. With practice and the con- 
sumption of a little powder and shot the youth 
will soon become familiar with the shooting of 
his gun, and learn to l)ring it up, take aim, and 
fire without any pause between those operations. 
He will then find that he can hit the target 
every time with the centre of the charge; and as 
this is the way to kill, he is now to begin at 
birds. Boys have a hankering after shooting at 
sitting birds. This is not to be indulged in. The 
target is better practice than sitting birds, because 
if the youthful shooter goes after the latter he 
will r-amble about half a day without getting as 



25R FIELD SHOOTING. 

many shots in distance as he cah make at the 
target in a quarter of an hour. Therefore, when 
the young shooter begins at birds, it is to be 
at birds on the wing — slow-flying birds, such as 
meadow-larks, swamp blackbirds, and the like. 

The young shooter will be able to get within 
twenty yards of larks. When the bird gets up, 
bring the gun to the shoulder, take quick aim, 
and fire. There is to be no dwelling on the aim, 
which is to be point blank at a bird going 
straight away from the gun, just as the sight 
was plump on the target. By going into the 
meadows and fields where swamp blackbirds fly 
up and down, the young sportsman may stand 
and shoot at them as they go by. These will 
be cross-shots — or side shots, as I call them, l)e- 
cause the side of the bird is presented to the gun. 
One bird must always be selected for the shot, 
when there is a flock, or several birds are fly- 
ing near together; and as the course of the bird 
is across the line of fire, allowance must be made 
for that fact. The aim must be a little ahead 
of the flying bird. At short distances and at 
slow-flying, birds a little is enough, but there 
should be some allowance made. For these birds 
at short distances No. 10 shot will be large 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. • 259 

enough. When longer shots are in order for the 
improving shooter, No. 8 may be used ; and as he 
will now have acquired confidence in himself and 
his gun, more powder may he employed. After 
a while J^e will learn the quantity of powder 
with which his gun shoots best with ease and 
comfort to himself in delivering fire. 

At first the young shooter at birds on the wing 
may expect misses, perhaps a good many of them, 
but he need not be disheartened. When he 
misses, let him consider and hit upon the pro- 
bable cause of the miss. It may be that he shot 
too high or too low, or behind the bird — which 
is very likely if it was a cross-shot — or he may 
have shot in a hurried, flustered way without 
taking aim. To whatever cause he thinks the 
miss may have been owing, let him resolve to 
guard against it another time. 1 wish to impress 
upon the young shooter that missing within easy 
distance is not a matter of chance. Under such 
circumstances there is always a cause why the 
miss was not a hit, and it is desirable that he 
who has made it should find out the cause and 
be prepared to prevent it. If he does this, he 
will steadily improve in his shooting, and may 
probably become in time a " crack shot," which 



2<)() FIELD SHOOTING. 

tsigiiities one of tlir hest. (loinu; on missiiitjj time 
after time, witlioiit stopping t«> consider why the 
bird was missed, will not do. 

When a Itird is going straight away from the 
gun, the miss of the l)eginner is commpnly ow- 
ing to under-shooting. His line of fire, straight 
ahead, is apt to ])e correct, hut he often shoots 
too low. Let him remember that a bird getting 
up neai- him and flying away is almost always 
rising for some distance. if the young shooter 
gets sight of the bird, he is certain not to shoot 
too high, and he may shoot too low ; therefore 
keep the gun up, and if you see a feather of 
the bird in sighting along the ridge, crack away. 
You will be nearly certain to bring it down. 
Misses at birds which present side shots, and fly 
across the line of fire, are usually owing to shoot- 
ing l)ehlnd the bird. The young shooter, as 
1 observed before, must allow for the forward 
motion of the bird he aims at ; and if at short 
distances, at larks and swamp blackbirds, he 
shoots ten or twelve inches ahead of the bird, 
he will be sure to hit it, provided the gun had 
the right elevation. 

When the young shaoter, after having missed 
two or three side shots, thinks it was owing to 



THE AKT OF SHOOTING OX THE WING. 261 

his sliootiiig l»eliiii(l \v< lairds, lie must deter- 
mine to hold ahead of the next that crosses. 
It is two to one that he will bring that one 
down, althougli lie is but a beginner. The ne- 
cessity of aiming ahead of crossing birds is often 
not thoroughly understood even Ijy adult sports- 
men wh<jse practice has been large ; and the dis- 
tance at which it is proper to hold at a 
faist-flying l)ird crossing a hjug shot oti' is 
almost universally under-estimated. The gun at 
the shoulder must move with the bird until aim 
is taken the proper distance ahead of it. Then 
shoot instantly. The young shooter must practise 
all he can, neglecting no opportunity. When by 
proper instructions he has been taught what he 
is to do and how he is to do it, practice is 
the thing through which he will improve and 
perhaps become a first-rate shot. When he has 
been well entered at larks, sw^amp blackl)irds, 
swallows and the like, he will be fit to go out 
with a companion, an old sportsman who knows 
how to manage dogs ; if convenient, after game- 
birds. 

Pinnated grouse, the young ones at the early- 
part of the season, afford the very best .practice 
for the beginners who have had some shooting 



262 FIELD SriOOTING. 

at larks and l)laekbir(ls. It' tlio coinrnenceineut 
of the shooting season is changed by law from 
the fifteenth of August to the first of September, 
as I hope it will he. the young birds will still 
be sufficiently easy for the youthful sportsman. 
As it is now, they might be a little difficult on 
and after the first of September ; for having been 
shot at almost incessantly for the last sixteen days 
in August, they have become rather wild, and 
the feeble ones have all been killed. I am sa- 
tisfied that if the grouse season opened on th<' 
first of September, I could take a youth who 
had practised at larks and blackbirds, as above 
described, and had never seen a live grouse in 
his life, and so instriut him in the field by 
precept and example that his shooting should 
improve right along, so that late in October 
and November, he should often succeed in stop- 
ping grouse, when, according to some who call 
themselves sportsmen, they are so wild and diffi- 
cult that they can't be killed with the gun at all. 
But as the young sportsmen of the East have 
no chance at the grouse of Illinois, Iowa, etc., 
and quail and snipe are too difficult to affi^rd 
fair practice for beginners, I should recommend 
the youthful gunners to try their hands at the 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 263 

migratory thrushes, called robins. These birds flock 
together in the tall before they go south, and fly 
up and down rows of trees in fields, or along 
fences, from tree to tree, in lanes, and about by- 
roads. They will afford good practice. The be- 
ginner need not be deterred from shooting at 
them by the name " robin,*' because these 
birds are no more robins than woodcocks are. 
All three have red breasts, and so has the 
bullfinch. The young shooter, as a matter of 
course, will not shoot at these handsome birds 
when they are about gentlemen's lawns, where 
they ornament the smooth-shorn turf and embel- 
lish the shrubbery. The time for action at 
them is when they flock preparatory to migration, 
when they will be found in such places as have 
been mentioned. The young sportsman may often 
be able to get shots at these birds sitting, but 
he should not take them. His main object is to 
learn to shoot well at birds on the wing, and 
to this end three so killed are of more account 
than three dozen shot sitting on tree-tops and 
on the boughs of scrub pines and cedars. 

A boy who can bring down one-third of the 
larks and blackbirds he shoots at, and can stop a 
swallow once out of three or four times when 



264 FIELD SHOOTING. 

they are flying low and darting a little, as they 
generalh do before rain, is sufliciently advanced 
to go into the field after game. Once there, 
the same principles apply to him as ought to 
govern older marksmen, but do not always do so. 
During the first part of my residence in Illinois, 
although I was a good sliot. as twenty brace of 
quail may serve to prove, T was nothing like as 
good as I have since become. Years of experience, 
shooting ]nany months in each year, and nearly 
every day except Sundays, with much thought 
over the principles of shooting as an art, have en- 
abled me to arrive at as much certainty- as men 
attain to. It may seem like boasting, but never- 
theless 1 declare my conviction that 1 can shoot 
game-birds on the wing, in the field, as well as 
any man who lives or ever did live. I have had 
a challenge out for three years, offering to shoot 
against any man in the worhl, Western field- 
shooting, and anothei- offering to shoot against any 
man in the world at pigeons. The challenge for 
field-shooting lias now V)een withdrawn, in con- 
sequence of the accident which befell me in 1872, 
when I was shot clean through the right thigh 
by my own gun when the muzzle touched me., 
It occurred in the way I shall now relate, 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 265 

I was engaged in shooting pinnated grouse in 
December, in the neighborhood of Elkhart. 
On the ninth of that month, when starting at 
break of day, 1 drove to Mr. Gillott's pastures in 
my buggy, and got there before it was quite 
light. I opened the gate, went into the pas^ 
ture, and, getting into the buggy again, prepared 
for shooting. The birds at that time were quite 
wild, and it was necessary to shoot them from 
the buggy. My gun lay upon my knees, both 
barrels cocked. As I was stooping over to draw 
the blanket upon my knees, the right fore-wheel 
of the buggy fell into a deep rut. The gun 
canted, and before I could catch it the butt hit 
the hind wheel, and the right barrel went off, 
making a hole througk my thigh. The gun 
was loaded with five drams of powder and an 
ounce of No. 6 shot. • It was a terrible wound, 
but happily most of the shot missed the thigh- 
bone. Some, however, hit it, but did not break 
it. They are in my thigh now. I drove home, 
was laid up four months, and am now well again. 
But the wound has had the following effect : I 
cannot walk as long as I used to do before I re- 
ceived it. It is also very painful at times, so 
much so that 1 almost fear it is ^oing to break 



2(56 FIELD SHOOTING. 

out again. Now, under this altered state of 
things, it would hardly do for me to shoot against 
any man in the world, and see Mho could kill 
the most game in a week, say ; l)ut I will even 
now shoot against any man in the world, for a 
reasonable number of hours on a reasonable num- 
ber of days, and take shot about, as game 
offers, one man to follow the shot of the other. 
I shall now relate the methods I have finally 
adopted. To young sportsmen what I shall ad- 
vance will certainly be instructi\'e and useful, and 
I think many old on^s may gather things from it 
which will be of service to them. One-half the 
shots made at birds in the field are at birds which 
fly across the shooter, presenting side shots, or go 
quartering off from him, so that their course forms 
an obtuse angle with the line of fire. Most of 
the misses which occur in shooting at such birds 
are owing to the failure of the shooter to hold 
forw^ard enough no that the centre of the charge 
will be upon the bird when the shot reaches him. 
The centre of the flight of shot should reach the 
line of his flight just where he will be when the 
line of the shot intersects his line of flight, not 
where he was when the aim was made. The fur- 
ther tlie bird is from the shooter, the faster he is 



THE ART OF SHOOTIXG ON THE WTXO. 207 

going, and the nearer his line of flight is at ritrht 
angles with the line of the gun, the more the 
shooter must hold ahead of him to kill. T have 
had this very thoroughly impressed upon me since 
I have been a pigeon-shooter. AVhen a man is 
in the field killing plenty of l>ir<ls, and game is 
abundant, he does not pause to (-((usiiler hf>w it 
was he missed this bird or that. TTe pushes on 
to where his dogs have made another point. But 
when a man misses once or twice in ten birds 
from the traps, and there are five hundred or a 
thousand dollars depending upon his gun, he is 
apt to cogitate over the reasons of these things. 

1 had already noticed that in field-shooting more 
of the birds got away crippled from side shots 
than from other kinds. The reason, I concluded, 
was simply this : the gun was not held quite for- 
ward enough, and, instead of being in the line of 
the centre of the charge, the bird was merely struck 
by one or two of the shot on the outer edge of 
the flight. If he was flying to the left, nothing but 
the outer shot on the left side would hit him ; and 
if to the right, nothing but the straggling outside 
shot on the right. I began to hold more forward 
at crossing birds, and then I found that instead 
of being hit and getting away crippled, the birds 



268 FIELD SHOOTIMO. 

covered hy the centre of the flying charge, or 
thereabout, Avere cut down dead. 

In pigeon-sliooting 1 soon made this principle a 
matter of nice calculation. Many may think that 
at only twenty-one yards from the trap there is 
no ne«'d for the ]>ractical application of this |niii- 
ciple : hut 1 know th«'re is. At easy, slow flying 
birds, going right or left from tjic trap. I hold 
three or four inches ahead of tiie l>ir<l. It is well 
known by those who attend the great pigeon- 
shooting tournaments and matches that I generally 
kill all such birds, while some other men, who are 
very good shots, often miss them. The I'eason is 
plain t<» my mind: tliey slioot a little hcliiiid 'the 
bird. At a fast-flying crossing i)ir(l I liold from 
eight to ten inches ahead : at a quartering bird 
from three to four inches. At a bird which goes 
straight away close to the ground I hold right on, 
well covered, because he is rapidly advancing. At 
one going straight away and rising I shoot high. 
because he is rising, and if you hold right on to 
him you are apt to under-shoot ; and though you 
may wound him, he will be likely to get out of 
bounds. At an incoming bird I shoot right at 
the head, and 1 rarely fail to kill. Incoming birds 
are often missed from under-shooting. The hard 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 269 

est of all birds are those which go straight away 
from the trap in the line of the shooter, at a very 
swift rate, and close to the ground. Such birds 
get hard hit, but they often get out of bounds. 
They present a very small mark ; their wings 
an' closed, perhaps, when the shot reaches where 
they are. the charge scatters, and theii- heads 
are covered by their bodies for the most part. 

In field-shooting it is very necessary to apply 
the foregoing principles, because the bird shot at 
will often be forty yards off, and perhaps more. 
At a pinnated grouse going straight away the 
shooter should aim right on. When a side shot 
is presented, and the bird is going at a middlhig 
rate, thirty yards off, aim from ten to twelve 
inches ahead of it. Quartering sh(jts must be 
judged of according to distance and rate of flight : 
taking my pigeon-shooting experience as a standard 
and guide, and remembering that late in the fall, 
when grouse rise far off and fly fast, the shooter 
must hold further ahead of crossing and quartering 
birds. 

Some think that the barrels of a double-bar- 
relled gun shoot a little in — that is, the right 
barrel shoots a little to the left, and the left 
barrel a little to the right. If some guns do this, 



270 FIELD SHOOTING. 

they ought not to perform so. Good guns do not. 
I would not have a gun which shot in. It is wrong 
in principle. 

At a quail flying fast across at twenty yards 
hold twelve inches ahead of the bird. Some- 
times in quail-shooting a bevy put up by an- 
other sportsman near at hand will come by a 
shooter, crossing at immense speed thirty or forty 
yards off, jDcrhaps more. In such a case hold 
three feet ahead of the bird you shoot at. 1 
have often done so, and killed him. At ruffed 
grouse and woodcock in cover, and at pinnated 
grouse and quail in corn, snap-shots must be 
made. The sportsman must shoot at the glimpse 
of the })ird, and, if he sees that ■ it is crossing, a 
little in advance of it. A little will do in most 
cases, because the bii-ds are hardly seen tar oil' 
in thick cover or in corn. For snap-shooting of 
this sort a good-fitting gun is an absolute, neces- 
sity, so that when it is tossed up it wiH come 
slap to the shoulder. 

' In duck-shooting, at the morning flights, when 
they are overhead and from thirty to forty yards 
in the air, liold from fifteen inches to two feet 
ahead of the bird 3011 aim [it, according to the 
rapidity at which it is moving. Great judgment 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 271 

is to be exercised, and much practice is neces- 
sary to attain it. There is always a certain space 
of time between the aim and the arrival of the 
shot at the mark ; and if the mark is moving 
across the muzzle of the gun, allowance must be 
made for it. Birds overhead are always crossing 
the muzzle of the gun, unless thev see the shooter 
and tower up. After the taking of the aim, 
though ever so little after, the trigger has to be 
pulled, the hammer has to fall, the powder has 
to be ignited, and the shot to be propelled to 
the object shot at. Now, 1 often noticed that 
in shooting at the leading duck of a flock pass- 
ing overhead which did not see me, and tower, 
I missed the one I shot at, and killed another 
one two feet behind the one which led the van 
and was aimed at. This made me resolve to hold 
more forward than I had been doing. Pintails 
and teal fly faster than mallards, and a little more 
allowance in taking aim will be good. I have seen 
a pintail killed which was three feet behind the 
duck shot at, and this more than once. 

Wild geese and crane are slow flyers, and at 
these all that is necessary is to aim at the head, be- 
hind which there is the large body. But in shoot- 
ing at wild geese and crane with large shot, and 



272 FIELD SHOOTING. 

making a long shot, the shooter had better hold a 
little forward of the head of the bird. In windy 
weather the shot deflects somewhat from the 
straight course, and flies off" a little to leeward. Al- 
lowance must be made for this, especially by thosr 
wh<» use light <harges of powder. 

As to distance, there is this to be ol)served : al- 
though wild geese, and ducks are almost ah\ays 
further ort' than they are supposed to be, they will 
be killed easily enough with a good gun and a 
proper charge, provided the gun is held right. I 
have often killed ducks and brant geese which 
were sixty yards ofl', and a few which were not 
less than a hundred. But there is no certainty of 
killing birds at more than forty yards, owing to 
the spread of the shot as it flies in diverging lines 
from the muzzle of the gun ; and twice as many 
are killed at twenty-five yards and under as there 
are at over that distance. I have heard men boast 
of killing all the pinnated grouse they shot at 
within a hundred yards, and I immediately con- 
eluded that this might be true if they never shot 
grouse at any distance. It is like the story of the 
man who declared that his horse could run less 
than a mile a minute, whereupon an Irish jockey 
exclaimed: "That's a d — d lie!" 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WTNft. 21 H 

[ did ouco kill a pinnated gi'(»iise at ninetv- 
five yards, but it was bv a oliaiic-e shot. I and 
Miles Johnson, of New Jersey, were shooting in 
McLean Connty with No. T shot. A pack of 
grouse got up together, of which he killed two 
and 1 killed tw(». One (.f the others circled 
round a long way oH'. and 1 slipjU'd in another 
cartridge. The Inrd presented a long side shot, 
flying fast. I held as much as six feet ahead 
of him. and let fly. One of the shot happened 
to hit him in the head, and down he came with 
a heavy thud. Johnson stepped the ground from 
where 1 fired, and made it ninety-five yards to 
tlie <lead grouse. It must have been as far ofl:' 
when tlie single shot killed it, for it fell perpen- 
dicularly, there l^eing next to no wind. It was 
all a matter of chance. 1 had no expectation of 
killing the bird when I fired, and might shoot 
fifty times under the lik^' eircumstances without 
killing once. 

I have recently visited the shot-tower of Tatham 
Brothers, and that of Thos. Otis Le Roy & Co. 
The shot made at these towers is excellent. The 
latter is made according to the American stand- 
ard adopted by the New York Sportsman's As- 
sociation, which is as follows : 



274 FIELD SHOOTING. 

^ Scale. ¥rumber of Pelleti 

Diameter in Inches. JSumber. to an ounce. 

-iViT TT . . . . 33 

1*0^0 T 38 

■h^ BBB .... 44 

^\fo . . . . BB . . . . 49 

-iVo B 58 

fo% 1 .... , 69 

-,Vo- ..... 3 83 

iW 3 98 

fo% 4 131 

1^0% 5 149 

iVo 6 309 

-i^o 7 378 

tU 8 375 

tU 9 560 

T^TT 10 833 

. lU 11 983 



^^ 10i 



juTT 



13 1,778 



It should be added, however, that the adoption 
of this standard by the New York Association had 
practically no effect. The members of the Associa- 
tion have not adhered to it, nor have other associa- 
tions adopted this standard or any other. In fact, 
the several makes of shot present -svide diversities, 
and the shot turned out by any given manufacturer 
is decidedly irregular when measured by count and 
weight. The Forest and Stream, in 1890, collected 



THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. 275 

samples of the various sizes of sliot from all the 
American makers and the principal ones of Great 
Britain, and subjected them to a careful and elab- 
orate counting and weighing. The results, as pub- 
lished in the Forest and Stream, demonstrate that 
while a dozen trap-shooters may have their cartridges 
loaded with precisely the same measured load of 
shot, yet because of the difference in the several 
makes and even in different samples of the same 
make, no two shooters will have the same numbers 
of pellets in their guns. This of course means that 
those who have more pellets than others have a 
corresponding advantage at the score. The tables 
and comments published by the Forest and Stream 
are well worth careful study. 



CHAPTEF? XV. 

SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 

In my time 1 ha\e bred and broken many 
dogs for the sports of the field, and always with 
a view to simple utility in the field. 1 think I 
have had some of the best dogs that a man ever 
shot over, and my system of breaking has always 
answered my purpose well : but I do not pretend 
to be a dog-breaker in regard to the particulars 
'vvhich many sportsmen hold to be necessary, but 
which 1 do not regard as essential in the light 
;)f my own experience. Therefore what I am 
d)out to say on this point is more for those 
Mho keep a dog or two of their own than for 
adepts in breaking dogs, or gentlemen who can 
atlbrd to pay high prices in order to secure the 
results of high education in their pointers and 
setters. 1 propose to state on this subject what I 
know, and to mention some few flicts in regard 
to dogs which I have bred, broken, and shot 
over which may serve to point the matter. 

For the prairie country, where, as I believe, the 

m 



SPOKTIXG DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 277 

best shooting within a thousand miles of the Atlantic 
seaboard is to be had, the setter is probably to 
be preferred. There are, however, several w^eighty 
matters which tell in favor of the pointer. The 
latter stands heat better than the- setter, and 
there are many hot days in September, and even 
in October. Some think the pointer stands thirst 
better than the setter, but the truth is that both 
want water every hour and a half or two hours. 
The defects of the pointer for the prairie are 
his thin skin and tender feet. In the fall of the 
year the prairie-grass has a beard which cuts 
into skin or leather. Shoot in a pair of new- 
boots, and the toes will be cut through in about 
ten days oi- a fortnight, or iu less time, if you 
go into the drv grass much while the leather is 
still wet. Consequently, as the skin of the pointer 
is not protected by a thick coat of wiry hair, 
like that of the best and hardiest setters, it is 
cut on the legs, flanks, sides, and the inside of 
the thighs. The feet are also cut and lamed. 

On the other hand, the long, thick coat of the 
setter gets full of cocnle-burrs in those old fields 
in which game is often found, and they cause 
him a vast amount of trouble and annoyance. 
About ©ne-fourth of the time in such fields the 



278 FIELD SHOOTING. 

setter is trying to free himself from the burrs, 
and at night, ii' they are not carefully picked 
out of his coat by his master, he gets no rest, 
and is nearly useless the next day. Sportsmen 
who shoot over setters should always take care 
that they are freed from burrs in the evening. 
If they do not, their dogs will be miserable all 
night, and not fit for use in the morning, when 
the prime of the sport is to be had. I have 
had capital setters, and I must say that I have 
had and seen pointers in the field which were 
equally good, subject to the drawbacks I have 
mentioned al)ove in regard to each. 

Good dogs of both kinds have fine scenting 
powers, and the^ setters, so far as my experience 
goes, are as much under control as pointers when 
worked by men ^vho know their business. Set- 
ters take to retrieving in water much better than 
pointers, and on the whole, as 1 remarked before, 
the setter is the best dog for our part of the 
country. When the skin of the pointer is cut 
by the prairie-grass and rough weeds, and the 
tops of his toes are raw, he comes out in the 
morning so stiff and sore that he is hardly able 
to hobble along at first. The dog's ambition car- 
ries him on, however, and he gets more 'limber 



SPORTING DOGS BKEEDING AND BREAKING. 2T9 

after a while. But even then the flies yettle on 
the sores and annoy him very much. 

AVhen Miles Johnson came out to Illinois to 
shoot with me, he had four as nice pointers as I 
ever saw, while I had one cross-bred dog between 
the pointer and the setter which he said did not 
look to be worth ten dollars. But the pointers, 
though used by turns, soon got sore, and, in order 
to make frequent changes, he had to take them 
out when they Avere hardly fit to go. My cross- 
bred dog, on the contrary, was at A^'ork every day 
and never tired, so that Miles said many gentlemen 
in the East, if they saw^ his style of hunting, his 
staunchness, and the game and bottom he dis- 
played, would give five hundred dollars for him. 
I have bred and used cross-bred dogs for years, 
and for the Western country, all sorts of work 
in the field or cover, long days and many days in 
succession, I hold them to be the best of dogs. 
I like to put a pointer-dog, well bred and good 
in the field, to a setter-bitch of the same excel- 
lent qualities, or a setter-dog to a pointer-bitch ; it 
mak^s no difference, that I could ever see, which side 
the pointer-blood was, though some have a theory 
that it does. Nor does it matter w^hat the colors 
of the parents are. From a black setter-dog and 



280 FIELD SHOOTING. 

a white pointer-biteh T hwd a litter of livi'i 
colored pups whioli Ix-L-aiiic tii-st-rate dogs. 

Some of the cross-lu-t'd dogs take after the 
setter, and sonic after the j)()iiiter, in shape 
and coat, in tlic same litter. On the Avhole. 
1 ])refer t liosc w liich follow tlir pointer. They 
h;ive a shoi't l>nt thick coat and a tougli skin, 
while the hair is not long enough to eateh 
hold of the cockle-l)nrrs. Both kinds are liearty, 
strong dogs, with good constitutions and capable 
of great endurance. As a rule, they are inclined 
to be headstrong and are difficult to break, but 
mIicu they are l)roken juid have learned their 
business they jnake first-rate dogs and hardly 
ever tire. 

Those cross-bred dogs which take after the 
pointer look like pointers, and many men think 
they are pointers ; Init they have much better feet, 
and their legs and bodies are covered and well pro- 
tected by thick but short hair. T have found 
them good, tough dogs, capable of standing more 
hard work than either pointers or setters, as a 
rule. Those which take after the setter have more 
power than setters, and great bone and substance. 
Their hair is not as long as the setter's, but it 
is thicker. Both kinds are as good for water 



SPOHTIXC; l)()(.iS--JJKEEL>lNU AM) BREAKING. 281 

and cold wcatlier as need be. They liave had 
plenty of both iji my service, and 1 know th(^ 
fact. 

Another thing is that a timid dog is a rare 
<\\ception among these cross-bred dogs. A timid 
dog gives immense trouble to breakers, and is, 
to my thinking, little better than a nuisance. A 
man must have great patience and forbearaiK^' 
to make much of timid dogs. If he c<n-rects 
their faults, they are coMed at once, and slink 
i)ehind his heels. The cr<>ss-bi'ed dog, bold, high- 
headed, and eager, will run riot at first, l)ut 
they can be educated and made to understand 
and perform their duties. They will stand punish- 
ment, and, in fact, cannot be broken without it ; 
but when they are once well broken, they never 
forget what they have been taught tcj do or what to 
refrain from doing. As before remarked. I prefer 
those which follow the pointer in shape and coat, 
but I have had some which took after the setter, 
and were as nearly perfect as dogs could be. I 
think the best dog 1 ever had was one of these ; 
at any rate she was esteemed by me as worth 
her weight in gold. 

Fanny was the produce of a pure-bred lemon 
and white setter-bitch, and a pure-bred liver- 



282 FIELD SHOOTING. 

colored pointer-dog. She took after her mother 
in shape and coat, but was larger and stronger, 
and was li\er and white in color. She was of 
good size and stron<(. Tier coat ^^as thick 
and not as long as her mother's, and slie had 
but a little feather on the legs. She had splen- 
did scenting powers, was easily broken, was good 
for ever}' sort of shooting, and the best retriever 
I ever saw. In retrieving pinnated grouse or 
quail, if she came upon the scent of other birds 
M'hile bringing in the game, she would point and 
stand staunch with the dead one in her mouth, 
or even with a winged one that was fluttering. 
It is thought by some that a dog ought not to 
do this. I know that very few will do it with 
the winged bird, but I like it. 

Fanny w^ould work from daybreak until dark, 
and willingly. 1 shot over her seven seasons, and 
never knew her to " refuse " but twice, and on one 
of these occasions it was m}- fault, not hers. 
I killed thousands of birds over her, and broke 
many young dogs in her company. As a re- 
triever of water-fowl I never saw her equal. 
She would cheerfully go in and bring ducks out 
of the water when ice froze in her hair as soon 
as she landed. It was in such weather that I 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 283 

fell into a great error, and caused her to refuse 
her work one time. 

One very cold day I was shooting ducks on 
Salt Creek, and creeping up got a shot at a flock 
of mallards sitting on the water. It was a very 
large flock. One barrel was fired while they were 
on the water, the other as they rose. Eight were 
killed and five others winged. Fanny retrieved 
the dead ones, while the M'ounded swam to the 
other side of the creek and hid on the bank. She 
went to the other side, but the ice had now formed 
in her coat, and, being very cold, she sat down. I 
called her over to me and corrected her, after which 
she crossed and recrossed three times, and brought 
three more. She then wanted to give it up, and I 
had half a mind to let her do so; but there were 
two more ducks wounded, and if not brought they 
would die of slow starvation, so I required her to 
fetch them, which she did. It was a very hard 
task in such cold weather, and 1 was sorry to 
punish her ; but it shows what this sort of dog can 
do when an emergency requires much strength and 
endurance. She was a very sagacious and affec- 
tionate bitch, and a great favorite in the house at 
home. 

It is not good for a dog to be long iii the water 



284 FIELD SHOOTING. 

in very cold weather. Fetching out one or two 
ducks does no harm, and good ones like it ; but to 
be long in the water at such times is very try- 
ing. I never afterwards suffered Fanny to do 
more in that line than she could perform without 
injury. 

Sometimes when going pinnated-grouse shoot- 
ing, and passing along in my wagon early in the 
morning, I would have a chance to shoot one. 
On these occasions she would jump out, retrieve 
it, and jump back into the wagon with the bird 
in her mouth. If I drove for grouse in ploughed 
land or in grass-fields that had been mowed, 
with Fanny in the hack of the wagon, she 
would, on seeing the birds, j^oint from the wagon, 
and maintain her point all the while as I drove 
on to get within shot. One time, when going out 
for grouse to the Delavan Prairie, Fanny went 
into a corn-field, at the edge of the timber, and 
I, paying no attention, drove on. Finding that 
she was not following, I pulled up, after having 
gone a considerable distance, and whistled for her. 
She stayed a long time, but came at last, bring- 
ing with her a wild turkey three parts grown. 
1 had recently had her out when turkey-shoot- 
ing, and she was the best dog I ever saw to 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDIXG AND BREAKING. 



285 



point a wild turkey. I have no doubt she stood 
at that turkey a long time, and only went in to 
catch it herself when called off. She could soon 
understand what I was after. If rabbit-shooting, 
she would stand and retrieve them, and, if not, 
she would not notice them. 

Once, shooting pinnated grouse when they w^ere 
wild, I found there was a flock on a fence two or 
three hundred yards off. I had a muzzle-loader, 
and hanging my shot-belt and powder-flask on the 
fence, I crawled up so as to be within shot when 
the grouse flew\ I killed one, and winged another 
with the second barrel. In retrieving the w^ounded 
one Fanny Avinded a bevy of quail, and stood hard 
with the winged grouse fluttering in her mouth. 
The quail were twenty yards off from her in some 
corn, but nevertheless she stood hard and fast with 
the grouse fluttering in her mouth, while 1 went back 
two hundred yards for the powder and shot, loaded, 
and returned. I then took the grouse from her, 
whereupon she flushed the quail, and I killed a 
brace. This was one of the greatest things I have 
ever known a dog to do. The grouse was alive 
and fluttering; with a dead bird in her mouth the 
performance would not have been so very rem ark a 
ble. 



286 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



Fanny khew no fancy tricks, and would not 
fetch and carry out of the field. I have never 
taught my dogs out of the field. In the field no 
dog ever beat her. Her quick i^erception and 
sense were extraordinary. She seemed to under- 
stand what was wanted. If ducks in a pond Mere 
to be crawled up to, she would lie down as I 
started, and stay there until she heard the crack 
of the gun. If I laid anything down and told her 
to watch it, she always remained until I returned. 
If I had stayed away all day, or tM^o days for that 
matter, she would not have left her post. 

I have known dogs that could not be called 
off a point; Ijut they were those which had been 
broken not to flush their game, leaving that to 
the shooter. An English gentleman came to Elk- 
hart from St. Louis, with whom 1 went shooting 
nearly every day during his visit. He had a pair 
of splendid pointers, as fine as I ever saw — large, 
strong dogs with long heads. One of them was 
black, the other red. When the l)lack dog would 
get on a point in corn, he would not leave it 
until either his master or some other man flushed 
the birds. The consequence was that we often 
had to go in and find him, and I have fre- 
q^uently been half an hour in searching for him. 



SPORtING DOGS — -MRREDIN(J AND RREAKIXO. 287 

That stylo of breaking may suit England well 
enough — no doubt it does ; but in the prairie States 
it does not answer the purpose. The red dog was 
not so obstinately staunch. After standing his 
birds a good while he would flush them himself, 
and then come in sight of us. One day I was 
prevented from shooting, and the gentleman came 
back at night without the black dog. He had 
lost him at dusk in a piece of prairii^ where the 
grass was tall. 1 saw the gentleman that night, 
and told him my opinion Avas that liis pointer 
was in that piece of prairie, standing birds. At 
break of day the sportsman went out to the 
place, and there he found the dog, not standing 
up on his point — he was too tired for that — but 
sitting on his haunches. The grouse still lay to 
him, and the gentleman flushed it and shot it. 
This was his report to me. 1 saw him come in 
the previous night without the black dog, I saw 
him bring him home in the next forenoon, and 1 
have no reason to doubt his veracity. 

My famous Fanny died at work, as I may say. 
I was out with her one afternoon when there 
was good shooting, and finding that she did 
not w^ant to continue at work, I put her into my 
w^agon, and drove home. She did not appear to 



288 FIELD SHOOTING. 

be ill pain ; but as she had been \n apparent good 
health in the morning, and hiid hunted with alacrity 
all the forenoon, I did not know what to make of 
it. She seemed to lose her strength, and yet 1 
could not see any signs of her having been bitten 
by a poisonous snake or the like. In fact, I did 
not believe that she was seriously ill, and, having 
made up her bed nicely, I concluded she would be 
better in the morning. But that night she died, at 
nine o'clock. Fifteen minutes before her death she 
got up on her legs and looked at me very ear- 
nestly, as though she wanted to make me under- 
stand something. She then lay down again, and 
in fifteen minutes died easily. I had never left 
her after I brought her home, and her death was 
the cause of much grief in the family. ' It was al- 
most as if we had lost one of the children. I do 
not know what her ailment was, but believe that 
she had an internal abscess, the bursting of which 
caused her death. 

The best age to begin the breaking of a dog is 
about a year, in my judgment. At eight (»r nine 
months old it is well enough to take a puppy 
out to the field in a wagon, and let it work a 
little with an old dog. Care must be taken that 
young ones <lo not woi-k much \n the hot sun, 



6P0RTIN& DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 289 

for if they do there is an end to all reasonable 
hopes of their usefulness. They are spoiled for 
ever. What they are taught about a house or a 
yard is merely mechanical, in my opinion, and of 
very little service afterwards in the field. The 
field, where there are birds, is the place to break 
dogs, and puppies are too playful and too soft for 
the real breaking. At about a yeav old the dog 
is of an age to understand what is wanted of him 
in a short time, and also fit to endure the correc- 
tion which will be required to make him avoid 
faults. It is better to begin with the young one 
in company with an old, staunch dog, as young 
dogs are imitative. 

Some come to a point the first time they get 
on birds, but some do not, although their power 
of scenting may be very good. Some, when the 
old one points, run in, flush the birds, and then 
chase them. Many men think this grievous, but 
I invariably look upon it as a s'ign that the dog 
will make a good one, if properly handled and 
treated. Eagerness in the young dog indicates 
that the hunting instinct is strong, and then it only 
remains necessary to develop and govern it in 
the proper way. Some young dogs point larks 
and other little birds, and some men abhor this, 



290 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



but I like it. It indicates a good nose and the 
instinct to stand at point when the dog finds, and 
these are two of the main qualities upon which 
the futui-e excellence of the youngster Mill depend. 
The best dogs I have ever had woyld point little 
birds around our house when puppies. The in- 
stinct of a young, unbroken dog does not instruct 
him as to what is game and what is not. They 
learn that in l)reaking and in after-use. 

When a young dog runs in eagerly, there is no 
need to be harsh with him at first, it will be 
very easy to break him of that, and to make him 
comprehend that he is not to repeat it. My plan 
is to get young dogs eager after game, and then 
instruct them as to the method by which it is to 
be pursued and killed. Therefore I let them run 
in and chase a few times. The worst dogs to 
break are timid ones, which do not take much 
notice of birds, and are easily cowed. With these 
the utmost care and patience are required. With 
eager dogs after a little while I endeavor to make 
them understand that they are not to run in when 
the old dog points, but to back him. If they run 
in, then 1 whip them a little. If they persist in 
doing so after that correction, I take another 
method. Severe whipping does not answer the 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 291 

purpose for which it is intended. After being 
whipped once, the dog runs off' when he finds he 
is likely to be whipped again. By the time he 
is caught and whipped again he has forgotten all 
about the original fault. Now, there is an effec- 
tual way to punish a fault at almost the moment 
of its commission, and thus to cure him of it 
w^ithout half the punishment of severe A^hipping. 

I load one barrel with very small shot, No. 10. 
When the dog has had one or two warnings, and 
rushes in again as the old dog stands at point, I 
call " steady " in a loud, authoritative tone of 
Aoice. Then if he keeps on, flushes the birds, 
and chases them, I just give him some of the 
No. 10 on tlie quarters. He will be at a good 
distance off", and the small shot will sting him 
sharply through his hair, but will not penetrate 
his tough skin. The dog knows in a moment what 
this is for. One lesson is generally enough, and 
the second is always effectual. A man might 
almost flay the hide ofl^ of some bold, headstrong 
dog with whips without breaking the dog to 
good purpose. My method obviates the necessity 
for a great deal of punishment with the whip, and 
is not really severe. A dog, however, should 
never be shot at with larger shot than No. 10, 



292 FIELD .SHOOTING. 

and never Avhen lio is iiot at the very least forty 
yards from the gun. 

It' a tuni<l dog "runs iu and chases hirds after 
they are flushed, h't him do so for days Avithout 
Avhipping him or shooting at him. The thing 
for him is encouragement to pursue game in any 
manner at flrst ; and if he is whipped, he slinks 
behhid his master's heels. Therefore his con- 
fidence must he increased and his instinct to 
hunt somewhat develo|)cd before he is taken in 
hand for his faults. On the other hand, the 
bold, headstrong dog, not easily cowed, may be 
quickly brought to terms. I do not teach my 
dogs to drop to shot, or down-charge, but I 
educate them to stand where they are when the 
gun is fired until told to go on. 1 can see no 
use in their dropping. The man remains stand- 
ing, why not the dog 1 And besides, in hot 
weathej-, where the grass is long and the weeds 
tall and thick, it is injurious to the dog to lie 
down, because he gets less air than he does on 
his legs. I think dropping to shot and down- 
charging better dispensed with in thesa days of 
breech-loaders; still, I do not mean to set up as 
an authority on dog-breaking — [ simply give the 
results of my own experience and observations. 



SPORTIN(r I)()(;S BREEDING AND HKEAKING. 'Z^.)H 

One of \hv l)est dogs T vwv owned was a red 
setter, iiaiiied Jack, a lai-ge, strong, upheaded 
do^'-. T l)red him iiivself, and sold him when a 
])Uj> to a l)utcher. AVith plenty to eat and n<»- 
thing to do ln' grew up l>ig. and was always 
tat. The l)iitcher had him nntil lie ^vas two 
years old. and thought a good deal of him. 
though he never used him in the field or any- 
where else, except as a wateh-dog and to follow 
his meat-wagon. The huteher died when Jack 
was two yeai's old. and I l»ought him of the 
widow. He was entirely unbroken Mhen I took 
him out with a steady old dog. The latter got 
a point, and thereupon Jack ran in. Hushed the 
birds, and chased them. After he had gone 
forty or fifty yards 1 hallooed at him, but he 
did not notice it. 1 knew what he would do, 
as his parents were both high-headed, bold-rang- 
ing dogs, and he was given to riotous frolicking 
and full of pluck. 1 had loaded both barrels of 
my gun expressly for his benefit, and now shot 
at him. The distance was rather long, but he 
was well stung. Nevertheless, he did not mind 
it, and kept on. Thereupon I let him have the 
other barrel, upon which he came back. At the 
next point at pinnated grouse in prairie-grass 



'204 FIELD SHOOTING. 

Jack ran in again. I hallo(.)cd, but he kept on, 
and again I shot at him ; then he came back. 
Once again he started to run in, but upon my 
hallooing " Steady ! " he halted, and backed the 
point of the old dog. This was the first point 
he ever made in his life, and he hardly knew 
whether it was right or not. I went up and 
petted him, upon which he give indications that 
he understood what he was wanted to do. From 
that out he backed the old dog well. He was a 
little eager afterwards, but upon the whole 1 
consider him to have been the easiest-broken 
dog that I ever handled. 

He took to retrieving, and was a rare good one 
at it ; in duck-shooting, one of the best I ever 
had. In retrieving ducks he went at a gallop, 
swam as fast as he could, and brought in the 
dead at his best pace. There was no loafing 
about or slow walking with the duck in his 
mouth in his way of doing the work. A slow 
retriever for ducks is not good. While he is 
fooling about a flock or two of ducks, seeing 
him, sheer ofl^, and the shooter loses chances 
which he might improve. When retrieving grouse 
or quail. Jack would point live birds with a 
dead one in his mouth. He was very eager to 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 2'95 

have the gun kill, and at length appeared to 
think that I must have killed something every 
time I fired a shot. This uncommon eagerness 
and resolution of his gave rise to a ludicrous 
incident. 

I was going with another man to shoot grouse 
late in the fall, and we had Jack and two other 
dogs in the wagon. A flock of brant were upon 
the prairie, and though they rose far off, we fired, 
but did not kill. Jack jumped out, and seemed 
to think it impossible that there was nothing killed 
or wounded. About that part of the prairie there 
were some poor, lean sheep sufiering from foot-rot. 
Upon one of the smallest of these little sheep 
Jack seized, and began hauling it towards the wagon. 
I thought my partner would almost die of laugh- 
ing. I made Jack leave the sheep and come into 
the wagon again. 

I afterwards sold this dog to Benjamin 
McQueston, a gentleman who then lived at Spring- 
field, Illinois, biit who now lives somewhere in 
Kansas, where he still has Jack. 1 ought not to 
have parted with the dog, but Mr. McQueston 
was very anxious to get him, and paid a good 
price, for our part of the country. The way of 
it was this: Four of us, including the gentleman 



296 riELD SHOOTING. 

mentioned, had been out shooting, and were re- 
turning along the road with a wagon and team. 
Jack had performed a good day's work, but was 
still full of spirit and vigor, anxious to hunt. 
As we drove along, he jumped on a rail-fence to 
leap down into the field on the other side, and 
right there he winded a bevy oi" quail. With 
his fore-feet on the top rail and his hind ones 
on the second Jack came to a dead point, and 
made as pretty a one as was possible in the 
position. Thereupon Mr. McQueston resolved to 
have him, if I could be prevailed upon to sell. 
There is not a dog in the country 1 would prefer 
to Jack to breed from. 

The best dog T have now is Dick, eight 
years old and cross-bred, being the produce of a 
setter-bitch and a pointer-dog. His color is red, 
and he takes after the setter, but has thicker 
and shorter hair. He is a capital worker, and 
an excellent dog for finding game. I did not 
breed him myself. I)ut I broke him, \\v being two 
years old when I got him. He had been used 
in the field a little, but was worse than if he had 
never been out at all. 1 found him a high-headed, 
eager, headstrong dog, such as I always think 
will make a good one. I brought him into the 



SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 297 

proper way of working by stinging liini with 
shot once or twice when ho was going on wrong. 
He is now an excellent dog. I do not teach my 
dogs to retrieve, but let them take it up of their 
own accord from seeing my old dogs do it. 
About half learn to retrieve in that way. They 
could all 1)0 taught to do so easily enough. 

The most thorough dog-breaker I know is Miles 
Johnson, of Yardville, New Jersey. lie has a 
capital place to keep dogs, and is a perfect master of 
the art of breaking them, retrieving, and everything 
else which may be thought desirable. 1 recently 
saw at his place a liver and white setter which 
he has broken to do almost anything. This is the 
most perfectly-educated sporting dog I ever saw; 
and if gentlemen want their dogs educated in this 
way, Johnson is the man to do it. 

My method is very serviceable, and includes 
all that I deem essential, but many would want 
more to be done with them. There is one thinir 
sportsmen should always persevere in, and that 
is, making the dog perform what he undertakes 
to make him do. 1 never let a dog evade doing 
what 1 have set out to make him do. Your dogs 
must be made to understand clearly that you are 
the master, and that ^oiir Mill is t<> nil» th<-ir in- 



298 FIELD SHOOTING, 

clinations. When Fanny was young and a pretty 
good dog, retrieving grouse very nicely, on one 
hot morning she refused to find and bring in a 
grouse I had shot. She ran for the corn, where- 
upon I fired over her and stung her with two or 
three straggling, shot. She kept on, however, and 
bolted for home, some four miles distant. I knew 
that would never do, and, jumping into my buggy, 
I drove off and got there before she did. When 
she came jogging on, she seemed astounded at see- 
ing me there. I gave her a few cuts an ith the 
whip, and took her back to the place where she 
had misbehaved, upon which she found the dead 
bird, and brought it in. If I had passed that over, 
she would have gone off again on some day when 
she was more inclined for rest than work. When 
a dog runs off" instead of doing what he is required 
to do, bring him back to the same place, no mat- 
ter at what trouble, and compel him to perform it. 
If young sportsmen neglect this, and go on their 
way rather than lose a little time, their dogs will 
find it out, and do pretty much as they like. It is 
this which causes many dogs which have really 
been well broken to turn out to be rascals in 
their owners' hands. 

Cross-bred dogs are seldom good beyond the 



SPORTING DOGS -BREEDING AND BREAKING. 299 

first cross, though some "bred from mine and the 
Scotch sheep-dog have turned out very well. But 
the sheep-dog has a fine nose and amazing sagacity, 
with a grand capacity to receive education and 
retain its fruits. 

The first dogs I shot over were cocking-spaniels, 
and 1 do not believe they had any breaking at all. 
1 recently visited the neighborhood in which 1 
learned to shoot on the wing, and the fine farm 
of Mr. Jeremiah Rundell, at Stockport, on the 
Hudson River, over which I used to shoot. With 
him and his family I ate some splendid apples, 
the produce of an orchard whose trees I helped 
to plant eighteen years ago. 



r\ 



CHAPTER XVl. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 



I BEGAN to shoot pigeoiis ill 1868, when I liad 
been a field-shot for more than eighteen years. 1 
•had often been invited to go and witness contests 
of the kind, but cared nothing for them, and up 
to 1868 had never seen a pigeon-trap. The first 
public pigeon-shooting into which 1 entered was 
a series of sweepstakes at St. Louis. I had some 
success ; so much, in fact, that R. ]\[. Patchen, 
who was witli me, forthwith made a match, in 
Avhich I was to shoot against Gough Stanton of 
Detroit for |200 a side. Expenses were to be 
paid to whomever travelled to the other, and he 
came to Elkhart, The match was fifty birds each. 
He brought witli liiin a plunge trap, the first 1 
had ever seen of that character. However, I con- 
sented to the use of it, and won Ijy killing forty - 
six to his forty. I was then just about as good 
a shot at pigeons as I am now, except that I was 
anxious about the money, and sometimes missed 
owing to that. 

800 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 301 

I next shot against x\l)raham Kleinman. John 
Thomson, a stockman of Elkhart, made the match 
on my part. It was for $200 a side, fifty birds 
each from a spring-trap. There was a dispute 
about the quantity of shot to be used, he con- 
tending that it was to be limited to an ounce. 
\\ e made a sort of compr(^mise, by which I was 
to pull my own trap, while he was allowed a 
man to pull for him. The match was trap and 
handle for each other. He had an old trapper 
named Farnsworth to do this on his part, while 
my man. as afterwards appeared, did not know 
an old bird from a voimaj one. Before we beffan 
I offered to bet that I killed forty-six out of 
fifty. This wag(u- was eagerly accepted by 
Farnsworth, who wanted to l)et a larger sum 
oil the point. Kleinman killed forty-nine and 
1 killed forty-six. I told Kleinman that I 
couhl and would beat him before long, and went 
home to pi-actise in the field. I challenged him 
for the championship of Illinois, and we shot 
for $200 a side, at fifty single birds and twenty- 
five pairs of double birds each — the single 
birds ground-trap, the doubles plunge-traps. Of 
the single birds 1 killed forty-three to Klein- 
maii's forty-two. At the doubles we killed forty- 



302 TRAP SHOOTING. 

three each. It was at Chicago in 1868. Soon 
after I shot with another man two or three 
times, and won ; but I shall not mention his 
name in this book, for sufficient reasons. 

The next match 1 took up with Abraham 
Kleinman was rather singular in character. It 
was at single and double birds. I was to shoot 
from a buggy at twenty-one yards, the horse 
to be on a trot or run when the trap was 
pulled. Kleinman shot from the ground at twenty- 
five yards. 1 won it. 1 afterwards shot two 
other matches on these conditions, one with King 
at Springfield, and one with Henry Conderman 
at Decatur. Of these I lost one, and won the 
other. My shooting from a buggy at plover, 
grouse, and geese had made me very quick and 
effective. 

In the spring of 1869 R. M. Patchen made 
a match, in which I was backed to kill five hun- 
dred pigeons in six hundred and forty-five min- 
utes, with one gun, at Chicago. I was to load 
my own gun, and the stakes were $1,000 a side. 
There were heavy outside bets that I could not 
do it. I won the match, however, in eight hours 
forty-eight minutes, and thus had one hour fifty-seven 
minutes to spare. In the third hundred pigeons 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 303 

1 killed seventy-five in eonseciitive shots. In the 
last one hundred and five birds I scored one 
hundred ; and in the seventh hour killed ninety- 
five. I shot with a muzzle-loader. It was twenty- 
one yards rise and fifty bounds. Before this 
match came ofi' 1 had, in practice, killed five 
hundred birds in five hours and seven minutes ; 
but then I used two guns, and had a man 
to clean them, though I loaded them myself. 
1 missed thirty-four out of the whole number 
shot at. 

I was next matched to kill a hundred consecu- 
tive birds at Chicago in July, 1869; $1,000 to 
$100 that I could not do it, and three matches to 
be shot if I failed in the first and second. In 
the first I had killed thirty when the lock of 
my gun broke, and being obliged to borrow one 
which was a poor article, I lost. On the 21st of 
the month I tried it again, and won. At De- 
troit in the same season I undertook to kill 
forty birds in forty minutes, to load my own 
gun, and gather my own birds. I killed fifty- 
three in twenty minutes forty seconds, and won. 
In the fall of 1869 I shot a match for $1,000 
a side against King at Chicago. It w^as fifty 
single birds and fifty pairs of double birds, mak- 



304 TRAP SHOOTING. 

iiig one hundred and fifty eaeli, plunge-traps, 
tM'enty-one yards rise. I killed all my single 
birds. Mr. King killed forty-one of his. I killed 
eighty-five of my double birds, Mr. King seventy- 
five of his. 

1 shot and won a great many matches which 
I need not mention here. In 18T0, Mr. Nathan 
Doxie challenged anv man in Illinois to fro to 

Of >r> 

his place and shoot against him for 1100 at 
twenty-five birds. 1 went there and killed twen- 
ty-two to his twenty-one. At the Chicago tourna- 
ment 1 killed ten straight at twenty-one yards, 
as did several others. Under the conditions we 
went back to twenty-six yards to shoot the ties 
off at five l)irds each. Mr. G. K. Fayette, of 
Toledo, Ohio, and 1 tied four times more at this 
distance, killing all our birds. 1 then killed five 
more, making twenty-five consecutive birds at 
twenty-six yards. Mr. Fayette killed four of his 
last five, but missed the fifth, so I won. Later 
on I shot against Mr. J. J. Kleinman, of Chicago, 
at five traps, fifty birds, mine at twenty-eight 
yards rise, his at twenty-five. I won, and in the 
course of the match killed thirty-three consecu- 
tive birds. 

At Detroit, in the fall of 1870, I shot my 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 305 

first iiiuteh with Ira Puiiie, of New York, for 
1500 a side. It was a hundred birds each, twen- 
ty-one yai'ds rise, eighty bounds, half from iJix>und- 
traps, half from plunge-traps. We shot from the 
ground-traps first. When we had eaeh shot at 
seventy bir<ls, I was seven ahead, and night was 
coming on, so Pahie gave it u|). At that time 
he held the champion l»adge, and exhil)ited it to us 
at Detroit, whereupon Doxie told him to make 
much of it, for that I would go to New York to 
shoot for it and bring it away. 1 soon after 
challenged for it. and on the twenty-fifth of 
January, 18T1, we shot for it at the house and 
grounds formerly kept l)y IJirani Woodruff, on 
Long Island. Paine killed eighty-eight l)irds to 
my eighty -five, and retained the badge. I used a 
breech-loader in that match. V^ e then agreed to 
shoot at one hundred birds each, ground-traps, 
for six consecutive days, the stake each day $500, 
and either party refusing to go on to the end 
of the sixth match to forfeit |100. On the first 
day I killed eighty to Paine's sixty-two, and then 
he paid forfeit rather than go on ; but he backed 
John Taylor against me at fifteen single l)irds 
and ten pairs of double birds, twenty-one yards 
rise, one ounce of shot. 1 killed fourteen of the 



306 TRAP SHOOTING. 

single birds ; Mr. Taylor killed nine. I shot at 
eight pairs of double birds, and killed twelve ^ 
he at nine pairs, and killed ten, and then gave 
up. 

On that same visit to New York 1 was backed 
to kill forty-five out of fifty, with leave to place 
the trap as I pleased. The arrangement of the 
trap w^as objected to by Mr. Robinson's umpire, 
because it was so contrived that it would open 
tow^ards the shooter first. The referee decided 
that the trap could not be so placed, and I 
turned the trap and missed six out of ten, 
and lost. Thereupon Mr. Dc Forrest offered to 
bet $250 that 1 could not kill forty-five out of 
fifty, and fix the trap my own way. It was riot 
a bad bet on his part, for the diflference in the 
mode of fixing the ground-trap is not a great 
advantage to the shooter, and Mr. Robinson had 
brought clipping-birds for me to shoot at. How- 
ever, I scored forty -six, and won. 

At Lincoln, Illinois, I shot against Abraham 
Kleinman at one hundred birds each, one ounce 
of shot, and each of us killed eighty-eight. We 
had not birds there to shoot the tie off', so we 
adjourned to meet at Chicago, where he killed 
ninety-one and I killed ninety, losing by one bird. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 307 

With Ira Paine I have shot ten matches and won 
eight. 

One other match I shall mention here because 
of its novelty. At Chicago I shot against four 
of the best marksmen in Illinois. The gentlemen 
opposed to me were Abraham Kleinman, Abner 
Price, D. T. Elston, and Benjamin Burton. Thc}- 
were selected to shoot in company at fifty birds 
each, all they scored to form an aggregate, while 
I was to shoot at two hundred birds. I won the 
match ])y killing one hundred and seventy-eight 
birds, while the four who contested it with me 
shot exceedingly well themselves by scoring one 
hundred and seventy-six. 

It is proper that I should give here a few 
hints to the members of new shooting-clubs, and 
to some of those w^ho belong to older institu- 
tions, in order that they may not be placed 
under disadvantages when they enter upon con- 
tests of a public nature. Since I began to shoot 
pigeons I have travelled a great deal, shot a 
great deal, and observed the performances of 
all sorts of men. The one great thing for new 
clubs to observe is this : that in their shooting 
at home, whether fur practice or in contests 
with each other, thev should follow the rules 



308. TRAP SHOOTING. 

of pigeon-shooting, and not go on under loose, 
lax methods. It is essential that the rule as to 
holding the gun should l)i' ha])itually complied 
with — that is, the butt must l)e kept below the 
elbow of the shooter until the bird is on the 
wing. It is just as easy to conform to this 
rule as not, provided it is done habitually and 
constantly, and it will save a great deal of 
trouble when public matches or sweepstakes are 
engaged in. If it is not regarded at home in their 
own clubs, the shooters will be certain to have birds 
decided lost which they have killed, when shoot- 
ing elsewhere, by reason of breach of this rule. 
When several men are shooting at home, that 
is the place to learn to shoot according to the 
rules. If they are disregarded, the club and its 
chosen marksmen will pay the penalty of their 
neglect another day, when there will be a smart 
to it. 

Therefore I say it is better for members of 
these clubs to pay for a few birds at home, by 
enforcement of the rules, than to be beaten 
elsewhere through having dead birds challenged 
for improper holding of the gun. I have acted 
as referee many times, and have seen numbers 
of birds kille*! in such a manner that if an 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 309 

appeal had been made, I should have been com- 
pelled to decide against the shooters for having 
brought up the gun to the shoulder too soon. 
It is better to get used to holding the gun 
well down.* When the habit is formed, a man 
can shoot as well that way as the other, and then 
he will not be bothered and confused by being 
challenged under the rule in a strange place. 
Conform to the rules at home, and it will be 
easy to observe them abroad. Shooters need not 
suppose that they will not be enforced in other 
places because they have been accustomed to 
disregard them at home. 

When I first commenced pigeon-shooting, I 
lost a match in consequence of having two birds 
decided against me for holding the gun above 
the elbosv ])eforo the pigeons flew. Since then 
I have always been careful to hold the gun 
well down, in practice as well as in matches 
and sweepstakes. Another thing to be noted is 
this : in club-shooting, where eight or ten of the 
inembe)-s contend, the birds should be assorted — 
Ihe old ones put into one basket and the young 
ones into another ; and then they should be ap- 
portioned to the shooters equally. When the 
old ones and the young are all mixed up, there 

* This rule is tiow obsplpte, however. 



310 TRAP SHOOTING. 

is can element of chance brought in. One man may 
happen to get nearly all fast, driving birds, and 
another all slow, easy ones. Now, that is not 
the way to find out the best shooters. The 
niore the element of chance is admitted, the less 
likely skill with the gun is to win. A fast, 
driving bird is killed, but gets out of bounds. 
A slow one is not hit half as well, but drops 
inside, and is scored. But the man who lost 
his bird really made the best shot. 

Tf I had to make rules to govern pigeon- 
shooting, I should establish a new principle by 
sweeping away an old but mischievous rule. 1 
would adopt the Prairie Club rules of twenty-one 
yards rise for single birds, and eighteen for double 
birds ; but I would do away the boundary limit 
altogether. If the shooter recovered his bird 
within three minutes, he should count it, subject, 
of course, to the rules as to mode of recovery. 
When a man makes a splendid shot at a fast, 
driving bird, and it falls dead just out of bounds, it 
is decided against him by the arbitrary nature of 
the rule merely, and not by the principles of rea- 
son and sense. 1 have no individual interest to 
promote by suggesting this change. I find my- 
self excluded from about nine out of every ten 



PIG^EON-8HOOTING. 31 1 

pu])li('. contests by reason of luy alleged superi- 
ority, and really see but little or nothing left for 
me to do save defend the championship. 

Therefore what I advance is prompted solely 
by considerations for the sport, for the benefit of 
the clubs, and for the advancement and reward 
of real skill. There is no other way of absolutely 
determining which man is the best shot on the 
day of the contest. I have often killed birds 
which fell just out of bounds, riddled through and 
through with shot, and I have seen other men do 
the same. Birds hit like this, with seven or 
eight shot in each, were lost by a few feet, some- 
times by a few inches, and I contend that this 
tape-line rule is against sense, and productive of 
mischief. 1 have seen hundreds of birds lost under 
the operation of it which were as well hit as any 
birds could be, so far as the skill of the marks- 
man can go. On the other hand, 1 have seen 
easy, slow-going birds, just hit with one or two 
pellets in the wing, recovered amongst much clap- 
ping of hands and shouting by those who thought 
they were applauding marksmanship. 

Recently the Buffalo gentlemen, in shooting for 
the Dean Richmond Cup, had their chance jeopard- 
ed at one time through three of Mr. Newell's 



312 TRAP SHOOTING. 

birds, fast, driving ones, falling out of hounds, 
though hit clean and well. And in my opinion 
he made as good shots at them as at any that 
he scored, if not better. Every pigeon-shooter of 
large experience knows that matches are some- 
times lost by the man who shoots best, because 
of his hard luck in having birds fall dead just 
out of bounds. Now, there ought to be as little 
chance for luck in contests of this nature as 
may be possible to contrive. 

I have many times killed every bird I shot at, but 
some fell out of bounds. Now, if shooting is the 
thing to be tested, I had as much right to these, 
which were killed by the gun, as to those which 
fell inside. At Omaha, one June, I shot at fifty 
birds, twenty singles and fifteen pairs of doubles. 
1 killed all the single birds, but lost one by rea- 
son of its falling a little out of bounds. I scored 
all the double birds, thus making forty-nine out 
of fifty, and if it had not been for the senseless, 
arbitrary rule in question, 1 should have scored 
all the fifty. 

The fair way to shoot pigeons, whether in clubs, 
matches, r)r sweepstakes, is from H and T traps, no 
matter whether ground^ ]»Iunge, or spring traps. 
In matches, the birds being in the traps, and the 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 313 

shooter ready, the referee tosses up a coin. If 
it comes head, the shooter takes the H trap and 
his opponent the other. If it comes tail, the 
effect is the reverse. In club-shooting and in 
sweepstakes as many wads are numbered as there 
are shooters. The referee places these in his 
pocket, and after shaking them up pulls one out. 
The man whose number on the list corresponds 
to the number on the wad takes the bird in the 
trap. That wad is then transferred to the other 
pocket. After the shot another wad is drawn, and 
so on until all have shot, when the wads will ail 
be in one pocket, and the same thing is to be 
done until the shooting is at an end. By this 
means all trickery and favoritism in selecting 
birds for certain of the shooters is made impossible. 
I shall now append the scores of the nine 
championship matches by which the possession of 
the badge has been determined. The rules under 
which it was held and shot for will be given here- 
after. It was required to be held for two years 
against all comers before it became the property 
of the holder. I had Jiekl it over three years, 
and having put it up again in March, 1875, John 
'J. Kleinman shot against me for it at Joliet, 
Illinois. 



314 TRAP SHOUTING. 

It was first sliot tor at Mark Roek, Rhode 
Island, at thirty-five birds each ; entries : Miles L. 
Johnson of New Jersey, Edward Tinker of Rhode 
Island, Perry Aldridge of Rhode Island, Ira A. 
Paine of New York, J. R. Brown of Buffalo, and 
John Taylor of New Jersey. It came off April 7, 
1870, and was won by Johnson, the score bemg as 
follows : 

Johnson— 1 1011111110111111111011111 
11111111 1—33. 

Taylor— 1100111111101111110111111 
11111111 1—30. 

Tinker— lllllOlHOlllllllOllOlOlll 
11111111 1—30. 

Paine— 111110011011011110110111111 
111111 1—28. 

Brown — 11101111111110111111000110 

1111011 1—27. 

Aldridge— 1 111101110101001111111111 
1101110 11 0—27. 

Paine challenged Johnson, the holder of the 
badge, and they shot at one hundred birds at 
Fleetwood Park, New York, September 28, 1870. 
Paine won as follows : 

Paine— 1 11111111011111110110001111 
111111110111111011111111110111111 
011111111101111101111101111111101 

1 10 11 1—85. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. $15 

Johnson— 1 lOlOOlllllliiooiOOOOllll 
rill 11010001110110111 11 11 iiiiiiio 
000111111111111101111110111111111 
111110 11 0—77. 

Tinker challenged Paine, and they shot at Fleet- 
wood Park, October 29, 1870. Paine won as fol- 
loM^s : 

Paine— 1 llllllOlllllllllliinooill 
111111111111111111111111100111110 
110110111111101101111011101110111 
11110 1 1—86. 

Tinker— 1 1011111101111110001101111 
110101010110111111111101111111111 
111110011011101111111111011111111 
110 1111 0—81. 

A. H. Bogardus of Illinois challenged Paine, 
and they shot at Hiram Woodruff's old place on 
Long Island, January 25, 1871, when Paine won 
as follows : 

Paine— 1 llllllllOlllllOlllllllllii 

111111111111111111111011001111111 

111001101011111111111111011011101 
111111 1—88. 

Bogardus— 1 llllllllOOllllllliiinoi 

111010110111110101110111111111111 

111011011111110111111110111011111 
111110 11 1—85. 



316 TRAP SHOOTING. 

Bogardus challenged Paine, and they shot at 
Fleetwood Park, May 23, 1871, when Bogardus 
won as follows (besides, he killed seven which 
fell out of bounds) : 

Bogardus— 1 111111101111111101111111 
111111111111011111101111011101111 
101111110110011111111111111010111 
10 111111 1—87. 

Paine— 1 110 11111111111111111111110 
101101111111111110100110111011011 
010111111111111101111111111111011 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1—86. 

Paine challenged Bogardus, and they shot at 
Dexter Park, Chicago, July 29, 1871. Bogardus 
won as follows : 

Bogardus— 1 111111110111111111101111 
111111111111111110111111111111011 
111101101111111111101111111111111 
11101110 1—91. 

Paine— 1 11111111101111111111111011 
11111111110111010110 1110111111111 
11111111111110 111111111111111101 
1110 11 1—89. 

Abraham Kleinman of Illinois challenged Bo- 
gardus, and they shot at Dexter Park, Chicago, 
April 6, 1872, when Bogardus won as follows: 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 



317 



BOGARDUS— I 11110 11111111110 11111111 

111101111111111111101111111111011 
111111111111101111111111111111111 
11111110 1—93. 

Kleikman — 111111111111011111111110 
111111111111111111111111101111111 
111110111110111111011101111111110 
11 I 1 1 1 1 0—89. 

[These ure the otlieial aggregates ut" tlie match, 
Init not of the details, which could not he ob- 
tained.] 

Ahrahani Kleinnian challenged Bogardus again, 
and they shot at Dexter Park, Chicago, in Sep- 
tember. 1<S7'2. when Bogardus won as follows: 

Bogardus— 1 1 o 1 1 o 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
1 1 1 1 ] 1 1 11111110 110 10 111111110 01 
111111111111111111111111111010111 
1 110 1111 1—85. 

Kleinman — 111111110110111101111011 
111001111111110 110111111111111111 
110 111110 1111110 1111111111111110 
1 1 1 i 1 1 1 (J— 84. 

Tinker of Rhode Island challenged Bogardus, 
and they shot May 15, 1873. at Dexter Park, 
Chicago, where Bogardus won as follows : 



318 TRAP SHOOTING. 

BOGARDUS— 1 llOlllOllllOllllllllllll 
111111111111111111111111101111101 

11111001011111101111111011110 1111 
1111111 0—87. 

Tinker— 11110 111111111111111111111 
011111100 111111110 101111111111011 
11100111111101010 0111111111110101 
11110 11 1—85. 

Bogardus having now held tho l^adge over two 
years, it l)ecanie his proj>erty. He put it up 
again under the rules which nre inserted hereafter. 
John f] . Kleinnian, of' ( -hicago, entered to contend 
for it, and Bogardus and he shot at Joliet on 
the twentieth of March, when Bogardus won. It 
remained with Bogardus, and was open to challenge, 
but no one won it. 

The scores of a few of my best matches, other 
than for the championship, are given below, and 
also some of my time matches : 

Bogardus against King at Chicago, Dexter Park, 
1869, single birds, fifty each, and fifty pairs of 
double birds each, $1,000 a side, twenty -one 
yards rise. This was the first match in which 
Bogardus shot with a breech-loader. It was one 
of the best scores he ever made, all at 21 yards. 



PIGEON-SHOOTIVG. 319 

SINGLE BIRDS. 
BOGARDUS— 1 111111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111 1111 1—50 out of 50. 
King— 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
11111110 10 111111111 1—41 out, of 50, 

DOUBLE BIRDS*. 
BOGARDUS— 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 10 11 10 11 It 10 

11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 01 10 11 11 01 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 
11 11 10 11 10 10 10 10 10 1 1 10 11 11 11—85. 

King— 10 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 10 1100 10 11 10 11 10 11 
111110 1110 01 10 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 00 00 11 11 
10 10 11 11 11 10 10 00 10 11 11 10 11—75. 

The following is the score of the iiiateli against 
time, shot at Dexter Park. C'hieago, May 15. 1860, 
in which I undertook t<» kill live hundred [tigeons 
in ten hours and forty-five minutes with one gun, 
and load my own gun. I did it in eight hours 
and forty-eight minutes, with 1^ <>f shot, ground 
trap. 

First Hundred — 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 » 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
1111010111011101001111100 11101111 
01111000010101110 1001101111011111 
1110 111110 11110 10 11110 1111110 111 
111110 10 11110 11 1—136 shot at ; 36 missed. 

Second Hundred — 1 1110 10 110 110 10 1111 
11111010110111111111111101100 1011 
101111101101110111101101111111110 
111110100101011010001101101011110 
111111110101101110 0- -138 shot at ; 38 missed. 



320 trap shooting. 

Third Hundred— 110 10 10 10 110 10 1110 10 
10 1111110 1111111111111111111111 
111111111111111111111111111111111 
111111111111111111110 11111 1—114 shot 
at; 14 missed. 

Fourth Hundred— 1 1111111101111011111 
110 11111111110 1110 10 1111111110111 
10 1110 11111111111111111111111111 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 — 112 shot 
at ; 12 missed. 

Fifth Hundred— 1 110 11111111111111110 
111111111111111111111111111111111 
111111111111011111111111111111111 
1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1—105 shot at ; 5 missed. 
Time— 8h. 48m. 

Score of the match to kill <>iic hundred l)irds 
ill one hundred successive shots, and h)ad as I 
pleased, shot at Dexter Park, Chicago, July 21, 
1869: 

111111111111111111111111111111111 
111111111111111111111111111111111 
1111111111111111111111111111111111 

Below will be found the scores of a few cxhi- 
l)ition matches shot by nie within a year. 

At Jersey ville, Illinois, 1873. to kill fifty birds 
in eight minutes : 

lilllllllllllllllllllOlllllllllll 
11111111111111111111 1—53 out of 54. 
Time of shooting — 4m. 45s. 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 321 

Captain A. H. Bogardus, match at Paris, Ky., 
April 14, 1874, to kill fifty pigeons in eight min- 
utes : 

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 11 
11 11 11 11 00 11 11 11 00 11 11 11 10 10 — Killed, 58; 
misses, 10 ; number shot at, 68 ; time of shooting, 7m. 

Match at Stamford, Conn., 1874, t<j kill thirty- 
eight out of fifty l)irds, two traps tV)rty yards 
apart, to be pulled at the same time, and the 
shooter to stand between the traps. Ira Paine 
trapped the birds : 

10 11 10 11 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 
11— Killed 38 out of 42. 

Match at Omaha, purse of $150, same condi- 
tions as at Stamford; shot June 19, 1874: 

11 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 10 
11 10— Killed 39 out of 44. 

Score made by me on the same day in a s^.veep- 
stakes : 

Single Birds— 1 llllllllllOlllllll 1—19 
killed, 1 missed. 

Double Birds— 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 H 
11—30 killed. 

Aggregate — 49 out of 50. 



322 TRAP SHOOTING. 

Match at Washington, D. C, July 20, 1874, on 
the grounds of the Shooting Clul). Colonel Alex- 
ander pulled the traps, which were forty yards 
apart : 

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 U 11 11 11 10 11 11 11— 29 out of 30. 

Jn this match at Washington I shot with the 
Orange powder of Laflin & Rand, New York, 
No. 7 Lightning, and found it strong and clean, 
and better than any T ever used ])efore. I shot 
at one bird full seventy-five yards off, let go by 
an outsider, and killed it dead. It is coarse- 
grained, burns even, does not recoil much, and 
shoots strong. 

CHALLENGES FOR FIELD AND TRAP SHOOTING. 

The following challenges, made by me, and 
published in the sporting papers, were not ac- 
cepted : 

(From the Chicago Tribune.) 
A CHALLENGE. 

I hereby challenge any man in America to 
shoot a pigeon match, fifty single and fifty double 
rises, for from $500 to $5,000 a side, accord- 
ing to the rules of the New York Sportsmen's 
Association ; 1 to use my breech-loading shot-gun, 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 323 

and my opponent to use any breech-loading gun 
of any manufacture he may choose. The match 
to be shot in Chicago. Man and money ready 
at my place of business, No. 72 Madison Street, 
Chicago. A. H. Bogardus. 

Chicago, Sept. 10, 1869. 

CHALLENGE FOR FIELD SHOOTING. 

To THE Editor of the Chicago Tribune : 

I hereby challenge any man in America to 
shoot prairie-chickens against me, in the field, 
during the moi.th of November, to shoot for 
one or two weeks, on the same ground, for a 
stake of from $100 to $500 a side. The man 
who kills the most during the time specified to 
take all the game and the stakes. 

A. H. Bogardus. 
Chicago, Sept. 33, 1869. 

challenges for field and pigeon shooting. 

Editors Turf, Field, and Farm : 

I notice in your issue of the 3d inst. an ac- 
ceptance of my challenge, which was issued last 
October. This is the first I have ever seen of 
it, and that time has gone by ; and if Mr. 
Murphy wished to shoot with me, he could 



,S24 TRAP SHOOTING. 

have easily dropped ine a few lines, and 1 
would have hunted with him. But all I can 
say now is (to Mr. Murphy or any other man 
living), that I will make a match to shoot in 
the field for two or four weeks next November; 
the kind of game to be prairie-chickens, the 
hunting to take place on strange ground to both 
parties, and the stakes from $500 to $2,000 a 
side, to hunt through the day-time and sleep at 
night, and not to take any advantage of the 
game ; and also, if the party who accepts this 
challenge choose, that every bird has got to be 
killed on the wing; and if either party kill 
birds sitting, to count three against him. 

Now, if Mr. Murphy and his friends think 
that I am playing a game at bluff, let them 
send a forfeit to the Turj\ Field, and Farm, 
and I will cover it. The match to come off 
in November next in Illinois, Iowa, Minne- 
sota, or Kansas, or any other place where we 
can find plenty of chickens. The man who wins 
to take the proceeds of all chickens shot by 
both parties. Yours very truly, 

A. H. BOGARDUS. 

N.B. — 1 hereby challenge any man in the world 



PIGEON-SHOOTING. 325 

to shoot a match at pigeons, one hundred single 
and fifty double rises, for a stake of 81,000 to 
$2,000 a side ; the birds to be put into one 
basket or box, and trap and handle out of 
same lot of birds, or from H and T traps, one or 
one and a half ounce shot. Will give or take 
expenses. A. H. B. 

Elkhakt, III., May 8, 1873. 



APPENDIX. 



It is hardly necessary to say that " Field, 
Cover, and Trap Shooting " was received with 
great favor in this country and in Canada, and 
highly esteemed and praised in England. Many 
editions have been published. It has been largely 
quoted from, and the London Field, a journal 
of great circulation and influence all over the 
world, has been very emphatic in its favor. 
Very recently one of its most able correspon- 
dents, writing from Western Texas, said : " The 
Bogardus book is just as true and as useful 
now as it was when first published." The fact 
is that it was eminently practical in character, 
and this constituted the chief value of it to 
sportsmen in every country. The Appendix will 
be of the same nature, the result of some fur- 
ther r^xperience in the West, of a season in 
England with the blue-rocks at the long rises 
and five traps of the Hurlingham Rules, and o\ 



APPENDIX. 327 

a shooting excursion to California. This last will 
be found of much interest and value, as game is 
plentiful in many of the districts, and the coun- 
try is often wild and romantic. When " Field, 
Cover, and Trap Shooting" w-as published in the 
fall of 1874, I was very glad to leave New 
York and reach the fields and prairies of the 
West. The first part of the pinnated grouse 
shooting was over, but the cream of the sport 
is, as I have explained in the opening chapters 
of the book, in October and November, when 
the birds are strong and wild, and it requires 
knowledge of their haunts and habits and good 
marksmanship to bag them. This I enjoyed. 
Grouse and quail wei-e both plentiful. Later on 
there were some ducks, geese, and brant, but 
they were not as abundant as usual in the 
sloughs and waters of the interior. The season 
had been a dry one, and upon the dryness 
mainly depends the numbers of water-fowl when 
they come down from the high latitudes of the 
north, in which they breed in incredible num 
bers. In a wet season, when every slough and 
pond and creek in the interior is full of water, 
and when the marshes and the bayous are 
flooded, the water-fowl are thickly distributed 



328 APPENDIX. 

nearly all over the country, and they stay late, 
food being plentiful, and all the conditions suit- 
able for their enjoyment. In a dry season the 
reverse is the fact. They then keep the lines of 
the great ^-ivers, and the stay of the flocks is but 
short. Though they seem to be there all the 
time, the fact is that the early divisions are 
pushed rapidly on south by the continual arrival 
of immense numbers from the north, so that in 
such seasons the van has reached the waters 
south of the Ohio River before the rear has left 
the rice-swamps of Hudson's Bay. Instead of 
covering and feasting in the corn districts of 
Illinois and Indiana for many weeks, they make 
in a dry season a rapid emigration along the 
valleys of the great rivers, and tarry but a few 
days at any point. Late in the fall I was at 
Gibson, Illinois, but the weather was unfavorable 
and we could not do much. The success of the 
sportsman depends greatly upon the weather, as 
the latter influences and decides the habits of 
the game. On Mr. Sullivan's farm the quail were 
very numerous in the cornfields, and very tame. 
They had not been shot at, and they would neither 
lie to the dogs nor rise, but ran about among 
the cornstalks. A worse fate than the gun over. 



APPENDIX. 329 

took the quail that winter. The cold was very 
intense and of long duration. The snows were 
deep, and lay such a long time that large nnra- 
hers of birds perished of cold and hunger. It 
was the hardest winter that I have ever expe- 
rienced in Illinois ; and at the close of it I saw 
large numbers of quail which had been frozen to 
death. They lay in bunches under the hedges 
where they had roosted. They are. however, so 
prolific under favorable circumstances, that a good 
head of game is soon raised again, and there was 
a fair breeding stock left. Besides, they did not 
suffer much in Southern Illinois nor in Missou^-i, 
where there are more sheltered woodlands. The 
pinnated grouse stood that remarkably severe 
winter exceedingly well. No amount of cold 
weather seems to affect them, and the only 
trouble is that a severe winter gives facilities for 
the outrageous practice of trapping and taking pot 
shots, in which there is no more sport than 
there would be in shooting barnyard chickens. 
In the spring w^hich followed that harrd winter 
the shooting was capital. The melted snow had 
filled the sloughs, the ponds, swamps, creeks, and 
brooks, and the ducks came from the South in 
fcrce in the month of March. I met Mr, Billings, 



330 



APPENDIX. 



of Brooklyn, at the Sullivan Farm, near Gibson, 
for three days' shooting, in my walk of two 
miles and a half from the station, across the 
fields to Mr. Stewart's house, where Mr. Billings 
had arrived before me, 1 bagged twenty ducks. 
It was with reason that I pronounced the prospect 
good that evening as we sat over the fire. In 
three days Mr. Billings and I bagged two hundred 
and forty ducks and brant, many being fine, fat 
mallards. As this was forty head to each gun 
each day, the average was good. Afterwards, in 
the neighborhood of my own home at Elkhart, 1 
had some good snipe-shooting with Mr. Bradford 
of Boston. In three days and a half we kille ' 
four hundred and eighty-nine snipe and plover 
It was in the month of April. In the following 
month, on the 29th, I shot a match for tho 
championship with Ira Paine for $1,000 a side. 
It was at Prospect Park, 100 birds each, 2(j 
yards rise from five traps, and 80 yards hour 
dary ; Hurlingham rules. I killed 84, and wou 
the match by three birds, as the following sccr<» 
w'lW show : 

"Bogardus— lOOll 11111 11110 01111 10111 
10101 10100 11101 10110 11011 11111 11111 

11111 11110 iiui mil Hill mil mil 



APPENDIX. 331 

11110. Total birds gathered, 84; birds lost, 
16; no birds, 4. 

'Paine— 11111 IIUO 11111 11101 11100 00011 
10011 10101 11111 11111 11111 11011 11110 

mil 11100 11111 11011 10011 mil oiiii. 

Total birds gathered, 81; birds lost, 19; no 
birds, 3." 

1 shot with a gun made by Scott & Son, 
of Birmingham, 12 gauge, 30-inch barrels, and 
weight ten pounds. It was and is a good gun, 
and its weight constitutes one of its great ex- 
cellences. 1 have never believed a light gun 
can make as good delivery as a heavier one, 
and all my experience since the book was pub- 
lished has confirmed the views 1 expressed in it. 
Very recently Mr. Paine has talked of making 
another match with me, and has arrogated to 
himself the title of Champion. But one of the 
conditions of his proposed match is that he shall 
choose my gun for me ! This is a modest con- 
dition for a champion to insist upon. The fact 
is that Paine is quite as much afraid of the man, 
Adam Bogardus, behind the ten-pound gun as he 
is of the weapon itself. In any case, he ought 
to have known that his condition in a match for 
the championship was absurd to the last degree. 



332 APPENDIX. 

It was not until I had shot the match with 
Paine on the 29th of May that 1 fully made up 
my mind to go to England. 1 wished to go with 
the American Rifle Team, which sailed on the 
good ship City of Chester on the 5th of June. 
My preparations were much hurried, but I was 
very rapid after I had heard that my wife and 
children were well at home in Illinois. Still, I 
had a little more to do than Lord Napier, as 1 
had to arrange, my gunr, and a full supply of 
ammunition. The British Minister asked Lord 
Napier at night when he could be ready to sail 
for India to take the command of the forces- 
• To-morrow morning," said the generai, 
" But your preparations and baggage 1 " 
"1 am always prepared, and 1 need no baggage 
except two shirts, two towels, and a pound of 
yellow soap." 

We sailed on the 5th of June, and had a very 
prosperous voyage. 1 found the distinguished 
gentlemen of the rifle team very friendly and 
companionable. The passage was rapid. The 
team landed at Queenstown, while 1 went on in 
the City of Chester to Liverpool. At this o-poat 
city 1 was well received, as 1 was also at the 
metropolis afterwards. Indeed, I had better say, 



APPENDIX, 



once for a.I, that during all my stay in England 
I met with kindness and courtesy on every hand, 
especially from the press, and I am convinced 
that any straightforward man who may go there 
will never have to complain of his reception by 
English sportsmen. The truth is, it is rather the 
other way, and some mercenary charlatans have 
been tolerated and applauded in London when 
they ought to have been discouraged and de- 
nounced. On my arrival in London I made 
public through the press an offer to shoot any man 
in the world for the championship, reasonable 
stakes, and a gold medal, at 100 birds each. This 
was accepted. On the 21st of »iune I gave an 
exhibition at the Wel'^h Harp, Hendon. Con- 
cerning this I need do no more th**^ give an ex- 
tract from the London Field: 

"The locale first chosen for Capt. Bogardus to 
show the Britishers how to shoot was Mr. War- 
ner's, the Welsh Harp, Hendon, an^, Monday 
afternoon being fine, there was a very %ir com- 
pany present. The proceedings commen-^^d with 
a sweepstakes, Capt. Bogardus standing at twenty- 
nine yards, at which distance he held hii own 
against Mr. Fowler and many other well-kaf>wn 
pigeon shots. A move was now made down Vho 



334 APPENDIX. 

field to witness the first of the exhibition matches 
—viz., Capt. Bogardus to shoot at twenty-five 
pairs of pigeons, and to kill thirty-eight birds from 
two spring traps, forty yards apart ; the shooter 
to stand on a line between the two traps, which 
are sprung at the same time. All being in readi- 
ness, the match began by the captain killing his 
left bird, and, twisting his body round, his legs 
being firmly planted, he laid the other pigeon 
dead a short distance from the trap. Throughout 
this match the captain took his left-hand bird 
first, and at the finish the score stood thirty-nine 
kills out of forty-four pigeons shot at. It should 
be mentioned that the birds were a mixed lot, 
with many ' owls ' amongst them ; but, for all 
this, the general impression was that the captain 
could shoot, and, as one well-known pigeon crack 
remarked, ' This stranger is no catch.' 

" The next part of the programme M^as to kill 
twenty-five pigeons in four minutes, the captain to 
load his own gun ; two birds to be on the wing 
at the same time. The cartridges were laid in 
readiness on a chair ; also a spare pair of barrels^ 
which he changed himself. Young Hammond stood 
twenty yards from the shooter, with a pigeon in 
each hand. On the signal being given, the birds 



APPENDIX. 335 

were thrown into the air, but soon to come down 
again. With astonishing quicitness the gun was 
reloaded and fired, till twenty-seven out of thirty 
birds were scored in ten seconds under three 
minutes. When half the birds were killed, the 
barrels were changed in the stock by the captain 
himself. The feat was loudly applauded, and no 
doubt could have been done in less time had the 
shooter so willed it. 

" Capt. Bogardus's style of shooting is very fair 
indeed, the gun being held below the elbow ; and 
the weapon he shoots with kills uncommonly clean 
and well." 

After this appearance at the Welsh Harp, [ 
went over to Ireland to witness the great rifle 
contest between the American and Irish teams, 
in which the former won a signal victory. 
At Dublin I gave an exhibition, undertaking 
to kill and gather 50 pigeons in fifteen minutes, 
21 yards distance, two birds on the wing 
together. 1 killed and gathered fifty-six birds 
in 12 min. 42 sec. 1 challenged all Ireland, 
but it was not accepted and I returned to 
London. At the Hurlingham Club grounds I 
met the manager, Captain Monson, for the first 
time. When I published my challenge to all 



33G APPENDIX. 

England Ca}>tain Monson had written me a letter 
to the effect that it would soon be accepted, but 
he was not now of the opinion that he could 
easily find a man to shoot against me. A mem- 
ber of the club, however, offered to do so at 100 
pigeons, provided I would give him four yards, 
and let him stand at 26 yards rise. 1 declined, 
believing that 1 could get a match on even terms; 
but 1 have regretted ever since that I did not 
close with this gentleman's offer. On the 7th of 
July 1 shot a match at 50 birds each, 30 yards 
rise, five traps, with Mr. George Rim ell, for £100 
and a gold fusee-case worth twenty sovereigns. 
The birds were veritable blue-rocks, furnished by 
Hammond. The score was, Bogardus, 36 ; Rimell, 
30. On the same day T won a sweepstakes and 
divided three others, and out of 70 birds shot at 
I killed 55. I next shot a match with Mr. 
Stevens at 30 birds each, giving him four yards 
and standing at 30 yards myself. The weather 
was bad, the rain coming down heavily all the 
afternoon. The main score was a tie, but in 
shooting it off at five birds each, 1 beat Mr. 
Stevens two birds. After this I gave exhibitions 
at Liverpool, Brompton, Manchester, and Sheffield, 
%nd shot in a series of sweepstakes at the Welsh 



APPENDIX. ?,?,7 

Harp, at Hendori, in which I killed 50 birdfe 
ou^j of 55. Previous to this 1 had made a match 
with Samuel Shaw, of Manchester, for £200 a side, 
100 birds each, 21 yards rise, 1 oz. of shot. This 
was to come off August 2. On the day of the 
sweepstakes at the Welsh Harp 1 took ten shots 
for practice with 1-oz. shot at the best blue-rocks 
Hammond could find. 1 killed nine of them, 
and the result was that gentlemen on the ground 
offered 3 to 1 on me for the match against Shaw. 
That match was shot at the Lillie Bridge grounds 
with the following result : Bogardus, 77 out of 
89; Shaw, 65 out of 89, and then retired. 

Bets having been laid that 1 could not kill 
80 out of 100 on the conditions of the match, 
1 oz. of shot, 1 shot and killed three more in suc- 
cession, making 80 out of 92. At this distance 
of time it may be of- some interest to many to 
read the account given of this match by Bell's Life 
in London. It was as follows : 

" The great match between Captain A. H. Bo- 
gardus (the American champion) and S. Shaw, 
of Oldham, near Manchester, for £200 a side, 
took place on Monday last. The conditions were 
to shoot at 100 pigeons each, with one ounce of 
■hot, twenty-one yards rise, from one trap, the 



338 APPENDIX. 

use of one barrel, and the gun below the elbow 
until the bird was on the wing. The match, 
which had been made only a short time pre- 
viously, excited much interest, owing to the fact 
of it being understood that Captain Bogardus 
was to compete with Shaw, the best professional 
shot in England, under the said conditions of 
from one trap, one oujice of shot, twenty-one yards 
rise. Notwithstanding the captain was made the 
favorite in the betting at 100 to 80, speculation 
was not very spirited, in consequence of the Man- 
chester division not supporting their man with 
their usual freedom, knowing they had a wonder to 
vanquish. The weather was remarkably fine and 
favorable for the sport, there being only a trifling 
breeze, with a bright and clear atmosphere. The 
contestants arrived on the ground at nine a.m., 
and both looked in blooming health. Captain Bo- 
gardus is a fine, muscular man, standing fully 
six feet high, weighs about fifteen stone, and is 
about forty years of age. He is a wonderful shot 
at both game and pigeons, a great athlete, and, 
providing his muscular strength is put to the test, 
he is almost or quite equal to the late John Hee- 
nan. The Captain's opponent, Shaw, has proved 
himself a wonderfully fine shot for .a considerable 



APPENDIX. 339 

length of time, by defeating a large number of 
North- country sportsmen. He is a fresh-colored, 
spare man, with a vast amount of confidence, and 
we should say halfa-dozen years younger than the 
Captain. In spite of the many attractions within 
twenty miles of the metropolis, a large number 
of a good class of persons attended the match ; 
consequently excellent order was maintained 
throughout the day. 

" No time was lost in arranging the prelimina- 
ries, and at 10.30 a.m. the match commenced, 
both men trapping their own birds — the best blue- 
rocks obtainable. Shaw led off, but failed to 
bring down his first, a very fast one, and the 
Captain quickly came forward and rattled down 
in fine style a very swift bird. Both, through 
trapping their own birds against each other, were 
somewhat slow to time, but they shot in theii 
turn. Owing, however, to the number of birds 
shot at, and the general similarity of their doings 
throughout, we think it quite unnecessary to com- 
ment on each shot, particularly as the appended 
score will be found sufficiently explanatory. Out 
of the first ten birds shot at by the American he 
brought down nine, the second eight, and the third 
lot all fell to his aim. At the fourth ten. nine 



♦^^0 APPENDIX. 

came to grief, at the fifth every bird fell. Con> 
seqiiently, it will be gathered that he brought 
down 46 out of the first 50 birds. Shaw, it will 
be seen, was never on favorable terms with the 
Captain, for in his first ten he missed three birds, 
and in his second the same number, and this 
made him three ' rocks ' to the bad. Out of the 
third ten birds the Manchester man brought down 
splendidly eight, but in the fourth four escaped, 
and out of the fifth ten he only brought down 
six, thereby scoring 34 out of 50 birds — just 
twelve less than his opponent scored. At this 
point of the contest the competitors and their 
friends retired for thirty minutes for refresh- 
ment. 

" On resuming business, it may be remarked 
that Shaw, who had been very unfortunate, as 
many of his birds in the first 50 fell dead out 
of bounds, entirely through shooting with num- 
ber ^nine' shot, now commenced with number 
' seven,' and, by so doing, he made a much better 
score. This will be understood w^hen it is said 
that he killed splendidly 18 out of his first 20 
birds after luncheon. The Captain, however, con- 
tinued thumping down his birds also in ijrand 
style, and, there being no chance for Shaw win- 



APPENDIX. 341 

ning at the 89th round, he being then 12 birds 
behind, he gave up, and Captain Bogardus was 
declared the winner amidst great cheering. The 
Captain, in order to decide a bet of killing 80 
out of 100 birds, shot* at three more, which he 
killed, and then retired, after having brought 
down 80 out of 92, and Shaw scored 65 out of 
89. The match, which commenced at 10:30 a.m., 
was not concluded until 4:30 p.m. Captain Bo- 
gardus shot with his famous 12-bore breech-load- 
ing double gun, of course using one barrel only. 
He shot with five drachms of powder and used 
No. 9 shot. Shaw used a single gun. 

"Remarks. — That Captain Bogardus has now 
proved himself an extraordinary marksman no 
man can deny, foi- the score alone was never be- 
fore equallei] in England — in fact, the losing 
man's (Shaw'>^) score is the largest ever pre- 
viously made. When we take into consideration 
the swiftness of the birds, they being the best 
blue-rocks that could be obtained for the time 
of year, and the fact of the Captain being made 
to load evei'y cartridge himself with shot singly 
before he placed it in his gun, and also trapping 
the whole of his birds — that is to say, those for 
Shaw to shoot at — the performance must b^ 



342 APPENDIX. 

deemed a surprising one. He shoots exceedingly 
fair, with the gun clean below the elbow, and 
kills his birds in a most astonishing manner. 
Each appears to receive the stipulated quantity 
of shot in its body, being instantaneously doubled 
up. Shaw shot well enough to beat 99 sports- 
men out of 100, and yet he never was in the 
hunt on this occasion. S. Hammond, of Kent 
Street, Borough, supplied the birds against Shaw, 
and Offer, of Hammersmith, against Bogardus. 
We have handed over the stakes (£400) to Cap- 
tain Bogardus, who sails for America on August 
12. We had almost forgotten to state that Cap- 
tain Bogardus's gun, a ' choke-bore,' was made by 
W. & C. Scott & Son, of Birmingham. It is a 
strong, plain weapon, without ornament, and an 
< extraordinary killer.' He used five drachms of 
Orange Lightning Powder, and one ounce of No. 
9, T. Otis Le Roy of America, wind shot. Mr. 
E. Smith, of BelVs Life^ was referee." 

At this match many Americans were present, 
among them Col. McCarthy, of Texas, and Gen, 
Geo. P. Buell, of the United States Army. 
These gentlemen offered to lay $10,000 to 14,000 
on me, but there were no takers. 

After this I shot at Cardiff- and Llandaff, 



APPENDIX. 343 

in Wales, in exhibitions, and finally met 
Mr. Rimell again at the Welsh Harp, to 
shoot for the championship, at 20 birds 
each 21 yards rise, one barrel, 15 pairs 
each from one trap 18 yards ris-e, and 50 each 
at 30 yards rise, five traps, 1^ oz. of shot. 
Shaw had chosen 1 oz. of shot and was badly 
beaten. Mr. Rimell now made a stipulation that 
for the championship the cartridges should be all 
loaded alike and handed by the referee to the 
shooter from the same bag. Rimell's idea was 
that there was something in my way of loading 
the cartridges. There was, as he found out be- 
fore the match was over. I loaded them, as a 
matter of course, with the strong charges of 
American powder suitable for my gun, and shot 
with perfect ease. On the other hand, he used 
two light guns, which kicked him so that he com- 
monly failed to kill with his second barrel when 
he had missed with his first. At the 20 birds, 
21 yards, 1 fcrap, 1 barrel, I killed 19; Mr. Rim- 
ell killed \^. At the 15 double rises, I killed 
26, and Mr. Rimell killed 18. Of the 50 birds 
each, at 30 yards rise, we shot at 36 only, as 
Mr. Rimell was then so far behind that re- 
covpry waf mpossible. I shot at 86 birds and 



344 APPENDIX. 

killed 72. Out of the same number Mr. Rim- 
ell's score was 57. The gold medal was made 
by Mr. Streeter, of New Bond Street, and its 
value is 30 guineas. This match was shot on 
the 6th of August. On the 11th of August 1 
was to shoot at Liverpool, and my passage was 
taken on the City of Berlin, to sail from thence 
on the 12th. AH my time was engaged, and 1 
felt compelled \o decline an invitation to shoot 
against Mr. Wallace, of the Hurlingham Club, on 
the 8th. 1 had been in and about London ever 
since the 16th of June, and the gentlemen of the 
Club made no offer to accept my challenge, nor 
proffered any condition of their own until the 
very eve of my departure, when 1 was immersed 
in business, I do not blame them for their cau- 
tion and care; but the insinuation made, not by 
them, but by some people on this side of the 
water, that 1 was afraid to shoot a match with 
Mr. Wallace, is uttei-ly absurd. I called upon 
BeWs Life, stated my case, and requested the 
editor to mention it. This was done in the fol- 
lowing terms : 

" Captain Bogardus requests us to state that he 
finds it impossible to shoot a match with Mr. 
Waliacc to-morrow (Mon^lay), at Hurlingham, as 



APPENDIX. 34 

he IS compelled to leave for the country. But tht 
Captain states that he will shoot Mr. Wallace, or 
any other man, in May next, for 1,000 guineas a 
side, from twenty-one to forty yards rise, at 100 
birds each." 

At Liverpool I shot my last match in Eng- 
land. It was with Mr. Elliot, 30 birds each, 1 
hamper of pigeons, 1 trap, 1 barrel ; Mr. Elliot 
at 80 yards rise, and 1 at 31 yards. He killed 
8 of his first 20, and " 1 killed 17, and then he 
resigned. At the request of several gentlemen 
of the neighborhood, I then shot at 16 pairs of 
birds thrown up a pair together, and killed 29 
out of the 32 in 2 min. 5 see. The Lancashire 
men were then satisfied, and exclaimed : " We 
have seen eno' o' thou. Captain. Fare thee well, 
Captain lad, till thou comes t' little Island again." 
At Liverpool I received a letter from Mr. 
Hawes, an eminent London gunmaker. It was 
a great surprise to me, and is of so much inte- 
rest and importance that I give it : 

"Gun Manufactory, 43 Old Bond St., \ 
London, W., August 10, 1875. ) 
" Dear vSir : I shall not have an opportunity of 
teeing you again before you leave England; and 



346 APPENDIX. 

as 1 have longed to give you some idea of the 
' impression ' your shooting has n\ade, not only 
on pigeons, but on ' birds of another feather,' 1 
take this opportunity of saying that I have seen 
enough of your performance to convince me of 
the truth of all that my old friend * Fowler ' said 
of you, and that there are no shooters in England 
that can compete with you. You seem to have at- 
tained the same end without a long-range cart- 
ridge that we have only been able to do with 
one. 

" 1 am told your 12-bore double-barrelled gun 
is ten pounds weight, and that it is 'choke-bored.' 
With such a gun you can use five drachms of 
powder, which must certainly give full velocity to 
1 oz. or H oz. of shot. The shot may therefore be 
of a much smaller size than is generally used in 
this country for pigeons. 

" However humiliating it may be to me, as a 
London gun-maker, I am obliged to confess that 
I have much to learn from the result of your 
shooting, never having seen anything like it. Ex- 
cept with the long-range wire cartridges, which 
cannot be used for pigeon-shooting, 1 have a 
strong impression that you get a great advantage 
In your ammunition, which I have tested, as far 



APPENDIX. 347 

as trying equal measures, against No. 6 of 
Curtis & Harvey, but 1 have not yet proved 
any perceptible difference as to pattern or pene- 
tration. 

"The new idea which 1 feel we must now work 
out is to give full velocity to small shot ; but, do 
all we can, we may be long before we see your 
performances equalled, as you have proved your- 
self such a perfect ' master of the trigger.' And 
I cannot close this letter without complim.entilig 
you for your straightforward and manly fairness 
in your engagements — in contrast, 1 am sorry to 
say, to the spirit manifested by one of your com- 
petitors on this side the Atlantic. For my own 
part, 1 can but express my admiration, and that 
of many others in our trade, for a man who 
comes to this country so well prepared to do 
what he professes in the style you have. 

" 1 may not see you again before you leave. 
Accept my best wishes. I shall always be glad 
to hear of your welfare, and may your rare talent 
meet its due reward. 

" 1 am, dear sir, yours truly, 

" William Harris, 
(1^'irm of Wm. Moore & Greg.) 
"To Capt. Bogardus." 



348 APPENDIX. 

A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 

In the fall of 1876 I went to California and 
remained there during the winter. I had long 
wanted to visit that State, and had received many 
invitations from good sportsmen to do so. 1 went 
by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. 
Very soon after leaving Topeka 1 could some- 
times see droves of antelopes, a hundred strong, 
in the distance of a morning. All the way from 
there to Pueblo the country was wild-looking 
prairie, seemingly barren. In many places there ap- 
peared to be next to no grass, and yet there were 
herds of cattle in abundance, so that the land must 
be better than it seems. As we rode along on the 
cars I wondered how they could live and thrive 
on such feed. They do so, however, and 1 noticed 
that the herds generally carried flesh and looked 
well. Hut in the winter the bullocks must have a 
hard time, 1 think, as the snow lies deep, and 
there is but little shelter from the keen winds. 
At the stations where we stopped for meals I 
heard men talk of shooting antelope by the 
dozen. The animal is naturally wary and shy, 
and the best way of shooting them is at the 
water-holes. The season had been very dry that 



APPENDIX. 349 

fall, and, indeed, from what 1 heard and saw, 1 
think it is a drouthy region. Water was scarce, 
and wherever there was a pond, thei-e the hunters 
lay in ambush and shot the antelope as they came 
to drink. It is a sort of hunting not at all to 
my taste and cannot be called sport. From 
Pueblo to Denver the country was poor and 
sterile, with scarcely a head of game to be seen. 
Denver and Colorado Springs are pleasant, thriv- 
ing cities. The latter seem to be close to the 
mountains, but they are in fact a long way off. 
Denver is a handsome place, well shaded with 
trees, and in summer it must be a fine place to 
stop in. I found there a good class of marksmen 
with the rifle and the double-gun. 1 shot two 
matches with John Cook, and found him a 
very square man — one who wanted to win by real 
merit ard quality of fair shooting; otherwise he 
did not want to win. After leaving Denver for 
Cheyenne the antelope were seen again at some 
little distance from the former place. The bag- 
gage-man carried a rifle, and, being a good shot, 
he sometimes knocked over an antelope from the 
car. At such times the train was stopped in 
Older to pick up the game. A few days befora 
1 went over the road a drove of antelope got 



350 APPENDIX. 

between the fences built for the purpose of pre- 
venting snow-drifts, and there the baggage-man 
killed six before they could get out. These 
animals will sometimes make a start and run 
abreast of the train for over a mile, well within 
gunshot all the way. Beyond Cheyenne it was a 
poor, dismal-looking country. f saw no game, 
but there must be some of some sort, for I often 
saw coyotes, the prairie wolves. The route from 
Cheyenne is long, the country a sort of desert 
producing nothing but sage brush, and this part 
of the journey was very tedious. When a man 
gets through he needs a rest, and it must be hard 
upon people in feeble health. I reached San 
Francisco in the evening, and was met by one of 
the best shots in California, an excellent sports- 
man and gentleman, named J. K. Orr. He is known 
to many sportsmen of the East, and is one of the 
best field shots of the western part of the con- 
tinent, lie is also a good shot at pigeons, I be- 
lieve, from what 1 saw. In the morning [ called 
upon Mr. Drury Malone. ex-Secretary of State, 
with whom 1 became acquainted at the Centennial. 
He is a good shot and always ready for sport. 
Through him 1 made a match at pigeons with 
Crichton RobesoUj for $250 a side, and the ioseT 



APPENDIX. 351 

to pay for the birds. The day came for th« 
match. I was willing to take almost any one for 
judge and referee. On the ground 1 chose a 
judge and niy opponent chose one. The two 
judges then selected a final referee. About the 
fifth bird I had was a young one, which fluttered 
up about two feet and then dropped to the 
ground. The California rules provide that in 
such cases the shooter shall wait one minute, and 
if the bird does not get on the wing in that time 
he may call for another bird. I called for an- 
other bird, but to my surprise and disgust it was 
scored as a lost bird. Thereupon I told the re- 
feree that I might as well give up at once, if that 
was their game, because although 1 could beat 
Robeson 1 could not beat his judge and the re- 
feree. 1 have never seen in any other place 
such flagrantly unfair decisions as they made in 
his favor and against me. It was, in fact, a base 
conspiracy to beat me anyhow, and they car- 
ried it out to the end. However, it taught me 
a lesson. I made another match, got an impar- 
tial gentleman for i-eferee, and then Nvent for 
Robeson and his friends. 1 suflfered him to 
lead me at first, and he was six birds ahead when 
we had but seventeen pair to shoot at. They 



3-52 APPENDIX. 



fh(-)Ught he was certain to win and laid lar<»e 
odds. But I then went to work in earnest, killed 
both birds every time, until I had covered his score, 
and finally beat him three birds. Thus 1 beat him 
nine birds in seventeen pair, [n a few days I made 
three other matches with the same parties to shoot 
against Robeson. One match was to be governed 
by the rules of the Prairie Shooting Club of 
Chicago ; the second by the rules of the Cham- 
pionship Medal of America ; and the third by the 
California rules. We put up $100 each in the 
hands of a stakeholder, to be held as forfeit 
for all the matches. When the day came for the 
first match I laid Robeson $40 to a $100 that 1 
would win all the match.es. 1 was confident 1 
could do so. But something intervened. The 
first match was under the rules of the Prairie 
Club, which provide that if the shooter sights 
his gun after being at the score he shall lose the 
bird or birds, though he may kill them. He 
sighted his gun at the score, and then when the 
trap was pulled killed the two birds. 1 objected, 
and, the rules being plain, the referee decided that 
they were lost birds. He then threw up the 
match and the referee decided in my favor. 
Thei'cupon the man came out in his true charac- 



APPENDIT 353 

t(>r. He had put up a check for $250 against 
my $250 in gold coin, and he went with all haste 
to the city and stopped payment of the check. 
But another man, one of much honor, had be- 
come security for the stakes, and he paid me the 
money. He then sued Kobeson, and the latter 
availed himself of the last expedient of a scoun- 
drel and pleaded the Gambling Act. The other 
matches fell through, as Robeson brought one 
man on the ground to be referee and would take 
no one else. When this is the case it is plain 
that the principal is a bad man, and his referee 
as bad or worse. Robeson, as I experienced, was 
the hardest man 1 ever struck in England or 
America. At other places, Stockton, Virginia 
City, Salt Lake City — everywhere, in fact, but 
with this little clique in San Francisco — I met 
good, square sportsmen and had neither trouble 
nor dispute. The way in which Robeson attained 
to the championship of California was simply this : 
he would always have his own way, and I was in- 
formed by several prominent sportmg men that 
they would not shoot against him for that reason. 
As a general rule, the sportsmen of California and 
San Francisco are eminently fair men. 



354 APPENDIX. 

While at San Francisco I was invited to go quail- 
shooting Avith Mr. J. Orr and Dr. Carver, and 
gladly accepted the opportunity. Mr. Orr had 
part oAvnership of a large tract of land and the 
right to shoot over it. This was of great advan- 
tage ; and their company was also desirable, as 
they knew the ground and the haunts and habits 
of the game. This is always an essential thing. 
He who has knowledge of these matters can near- 
ly always find game, when a stranger might tramp 
aimlessly all day and bring home an empty bag 
at nightfall. We started at three o'clock in the 
afternoon, and after going some distance, where 
we intended to stop for the night and drive over 
to the shooting ground on the following morning. 
As we had a little time to spare that evening, we 
walked out along the banks of a small stream. 
There was fine marshy land, suitable for snipe, 
and we thought we might get some, with a couple 
or two of wild ducks. What we got did not 
amount to much. The snipe were not on the 
marshes. However, we got a few duck, and out 
of a small bevy of quail, which we hardly expect- 
ed to find in that quarter, we bagged six. These 
were the first California quail I had ever seen. I 
had heard a great deal about them and of the 



APPENDIX. 355 

difficulty there was in hitting them ; but I did not 
find that they were harder to shoot than the quail 
of the eastern side of the mountains. Still, as 
these were found on level ground, and not in the 
rough hills and ravines they commonly lie in, the 
test was hardly complete. Very early on the fol- 
lowing morning we rose and drove out to the 
shooting-ground. We got there in good season. 
I was not very well prepared for this excursion. 
I had left my shooting-boots at home and had 
brought a pair of rubber boots; the dew was 
very heavy on the brush, so 1 put them on. The 
country was the roughest I had ever shot in. The 
hills were very steep and covered with scrub-brush 
from two feet to four feet high. In the hollows 
and ravines the thickets were so dense as to be 
iinpenetrable. When the quail got into these 
places it was of no use to try to follow. The 
first shot I had was at a quail which got up be- 
hind me, but I killed him with a snap shot, and 
although he fell in one of the thickets he was not 
out of reach, and was the first of the bag. It was 
soon plain that the dog could do nothing for the 
present. It was early morning, and no scent lay 
in the heavy dew. As Mr. Orr and 1 walked 
up the first steep hill, we went through a bevy of 



356 APPENDIX. 

quail which were lying scattered. Some of them 
got up, but our dog did not point them, and took 
no notice until they rose. If a dog of mine had 
done so at home I should have thought he was of 
no use. But this was a fine setter bitch belong- 
ing to Mr. Orr, with a great reputation, which J 
soon found was well deserved. Therefore 1 con- 
cluded that the California quail did not give out 
as much scent as the quail of the East; but in 
this I believe 1 was wrong. The lack of scent 
was probably due to the state of the atmosphere 
and the presence of the very heavy dew upon 
the brush; the birds had not moved around. Scent, 
however, is a very difficult matter to under- 
stand, as any one of much experience knows 
asd many a good dog has been condemned hastily 
when he was in no fault at all. After the sun 
got up a little, and she vvarmed to her work, no 
dog could work better or show more courage or 
more perfect command of birds than this bitch. 
She had a o-reat deal to do. as we had no other 
dog^ and the country was very difficult and rough 
for her as well as for ourselves. The weeds and 
covei' were thick and just about the color of a 
vju.'iil. Nevertheless. ■ she found plenty of them. 
Sometimes we were in the midst of a large bevy, 



APPENDIX 357 

and as they got up we killed from seven to ten 
before picking any up. They were hard to re- 
trieve, and hard to find to shoot at — the most 
difficult, I think, of any birds I have ever been 
after. They appear to me to lie in the roughest 
places they can find, and though they are not, in 
my judgment, harder to hit than other quail, a 
great manv of them were lost. Manv a time that 
day a quail would get up on the lower side of 
a hill, and, being hard hit and killed at thirty 
yards, would go down the hill into a ravine, and 
the shooter would have to go from eighty to a 
hundred yards to retrieve it. The habits of the 
California quail appear to me to be altogether 
dlfli'erent from those of Eastern quail. Where Me 
beat that day, mainly on hillsides so steep that 
it was difficult to walk, we found them in abund- 
ance, and the rougher and wilder the place the 
more birds we found. We went from one steep, 
i-ough hillside to another, and I soon fumd that 
the rubber boots were not the sort to travel in 
through such a country. My feet got fiery hot 
and dreadfully sore from blisters. 

When we halted for dinner f was very glad to 
chnnge the rubber boots for leather ones. It was 
my firs*^. experience of shooting in such a rough 



358 APPENDIX. 

country, and, not having walked much for some 
time, J was not in good condition, and had become 
very much tired. After dinner I was sore and 
stiff, and the old wotmd in my thigh pained me a 
great deal. But I said nothing. 1 had started out 
for a day's shooting, and was determined to keep 
on. After dinner we found lots of birds. 1 never 
saw the like abundance of game in any other 
country. In one instance from the top of a steep 
hill 1 looked down into a valley where there was 
blue grass, and saw not less than three hundred 
quail running about on the sward. This was much 
the largest bevy of quail I ever saw, but 1 was 
told by sportsmen that such was their abundance 
and their instinct for packing that sometimes they 
might be seen five hundred strong in a pack. I 
went for the quail in the valley, but they rose 
wild svith a rush like a hard squall when it strikes 
a piece of woods, and T got no shot there. How- 
ever, 1 marked them down on a hillside, and, fol- 
lowing up, got among them. The day was nearly 
done, and the shades fell over where they lay. As 
they rose 1 killed five without stopping to pick up, 
and then recovered but three in the uncertain 
light. My companions then joined me there, and 
we had some nice shooting. But it was late in 



APPENDIX. 359 

the evening, and the quail began to run. I think 
they are worse for running than the quail of the 
East. Still, it was late in the season, when they 
are more inclined to run and to pack in large lots. 
Besides, they had been shot at many times. Night 
drew on apace, and our day's shooting was at end. 
for which 1 was not sorry; neither were my com- 
panions, as it had been a long day, over very 
rough and tiring ground. We had enjoyed fine 
sport. I'had laid S20 to $2 that I killed the first 
jack-rabbit I shot at running. 1 happened to get 
one up and bowled him with a long shot. 1 also 
got a shot at a wildcat, and another at a deer 
but they were too far off for killing. When we 
counted our quail and other contents of the bag, 
we found eighty-seven brace of the former, five 
snipe, one pied duck, and one jack-rabbit. This 
was very good for three guns and one dog so late 
m the season, and we had birds to present to 
many of our friends in San Francisco. 1 was 
asked several times afterwards if these California 
■ quail were not harder to shoot than the variety 
we have in Illinois and the Eastern States. My 
answer was, and my opinion is, that upon the 
same ground it would be as easy to snoot one 
kind as the other. In shooting q^uail in Illmois 



360 APPENDIX. 

late in the season you have to be smart when a 
bevy gets up, and it requires good, quick shooting 
to kill a brace out of the lot. Moreover, when 1 
have been quail-shooting on Salt Creek and the 
Sangamon barrens in Illinois, the ground being 
rough, they were as difficult to kill as the quail 
of California. The sum of it is that on rougrh 
ground the two kinds are both hard to kill, and 
on level, open ground they are tolerably easy to 
kill. When there is no timber, no brush, no corn, 
but just the stubbles, weeds, and grass for the 
birds to lie in, 1 consider quail-shooting easy. 
Quail generally fly straight but fast. I have seen 
days in Illinois and other States when quail would 
take to the tall corn, and, when flushed, would 
keep on right through the stalks. This is very 
hard shooting. Shooting quail in thick timber is 
about the same. You must rely upon quick snap- 
shooting ; and good practice for this is at the 
artificial targets thrown from traps now so popular 
in this country. When a man can break two- 
thirds of the l)irds thrown from these traps 
he may consider himself a good if not a dead 
shot. 

On my way home from California I stopped at 
Salt Lake City, where I was entertained by the 



APPENDIX. 361 

members of the Warsaw Shooting Club. I found 
them agreeable gentlemen and good shots, and I 
enjoyed myself among them very much. 

GLASS-BALL PRACTICE-SHOOTING. 

Before the introduction of the modern artificial 
targets shooting glass balls from traps was some- 
what popular. It was convenient, inexpensive, 
and excellent as a means for acquiring such skill 
as might enable a man to kill birds on the 
wing readily. This method was introduced into 
this country some twelve years ago by Charles 
Portlock, of Boston. The traps, however, were 
nothing like as good as they might have been. 
The traps threw the balls nearly straight up in 
the air, and as a matter of course it was very 
easy to hit them. When arranged for throwing 
back, the balls were not sent more than eight or 
ten yards, and the practice was so easy that it 
was of no use for the purpose of teaching people 
to become good shots, and next to nobody fol- 
lowed it. In 1876 Ira Paine got up a trap after 
Portlock's pattern, with the addition of an elastic 
spring, and this threw the balls farther and bet- 
ter than Portlock's trap did. Paine and his agent 
endeavored to make this sort of shooting popular, 



;)(J2 ArrKNinx. 

but their etTorts woro in vain. TIum-o woro grave 
ohjootions Hira'uist tho trap. First, it was oxpen 
sivo ; sooouJ, it was ditVunilt to sot and iniu'h timo 
was wasted ; thirJ, it was Ivoavy and oiunborsonio 
to take around wlion wantod at various places. 
In the winter ot' l87(>-'77 I studied and experi- 
mented tor the purpose ot' invent iuii" and making 
a trap tor glass-ball shooting wliieh should he 
simple in eonstruetion, elleotive in use, and not 
expensive or trouhh^some to carry about. I got 
the trap so as to till my expectations, and calcu- 
lated to throw balls from '2S to J>o yards and not 
very high. I am now justified iij saying that men 
can now learn to shoot without trouble or much 
expense by nuwns oi in'jietiee at artificial binls 
at the tnip, and when they have beciuue ^-kilful 
enough to break two-thirds of them they can 
kill bii\ls on the wing. The only thing then n^- 
maining to be overcome will be the flurry oi 
the nerves at the sudden rise and rushing of the 
wings when a bevy of ipiail or a bunch of grouse 
is flushed. Practice in the field will do this. I 
think this shooting is the best thing t>f its kind 
that ever was devised, and furnishes the best means 
for pi-actiee by which young men and aniateui-s 
niav become crack shots at birds on the wiui;-. 



Ai'i'KSfJiX. 3<>3 

It }jaH }K'j-ji rii\(\ by iiouid tJiat shooting at glans 
liallK will injure tho wing-«hooli/j;.^ of Uj<; field-«liot 
who practiseH it. Xow, I know }}(dU'j; frorn tlj'; 
rcBuItH of my own axpcyniUCM. 

In pviict'u^a at trapH whr^re ther^:; in a frowd 
of ]>cj)\)\(; /J ever put your caTtnii^a hiU) the gun 
till you are at the s^x^re. This obviates all dan- 
ger. If you liave the use of Ixjth Wrrels and 
kill with the first, take the f^rtri%e out of tlie 
other barrel before you hiave the sc^jre and turn 
Uj the jxjople. If guns were never Wdfhul except 
when in ar:tual nfrn niany sari accidents wouU 
never liajjjx^n. Fools will take guns and point 
at "jKjople ; and wlien one of them has blown 
his friend's brains out tlje pernicious idiot blul>- 
hers out : " O dear ! I didn't tljink it was 
hMerl." 

For your practic^j at targets loa/1 your gun 
just as you would when going to shoot in the 
field or ry^ver ; tliat is, us^;; the same quantity 
of [xnvder and the same weight of shot. By thij5 
means you will Ixicome accustome^l to the recoil 
of the gun with the proper killing charge for 
birds. When men practic^i with light cliarges, 
and then go into the field with proper charges to 
bring down grouse and ducks, their gun kicks w 



364 



APPENDIX. 



much more than they have been accustomed to 
that they get afraid of it and make poor shoot- 
ing. Therefore, load when shooting for practice 
the same as you would for the field. 

Great Matches at Glass Balls. 

I will here give an account of the principal 
matches I have shot at glass balls. In the month 
of March, 1877, 1 shot two matches at Gilmore's 
Garden, New York. In the first I was to break 
1,000 in two hours and forty minutes. I shot at 
1,136 and broke the 1,000 in 1 hour 42 minutes. 
The second match was also for 1,000 balls, but 
they were to be broken in 100 consecutive minutes, 
which was less time by two minutes than I had 
taken before. I won this match by more than 
twenty minutes, breaking the 1,000 balls in 1 hour 
17 minutes 40 seconds. My next match at 1,000 
was at Lincoln, Logan County, 111., and in that I 
undertook to beat the time 1 had made in New 
York. I shot the match on the Fourth of July, 
in the presence of an immense assemblage of peo- 
ple. It was my own county, where I had lived 
many years. Men, women, and children came m 
multitudes, and my own family were on the 



APPENDIX. 365 

ground. The weather was intensely hot, without 
any wind, and those who have been upon the prai- 
ries at such times know how fierce the sun is and 
how oppressive the want of breeze makes the at- 
mosphere. It was a grave undertaking for such a 
day ; but 1 had never lost a match of the kind 
away from home, and 1 determined to win, if pos- 
sible, before my neighbors. 1 set to work. Every- 
thing went well, and 1 accomplished the feat in 1 
hour 12 minutes 15 seconds. But I came near pay 
ing very dear for the triumph. The weather was 
perfectly torrid. The glare of the sun upon the 
barrels and balls affected me. I was compelled to 
shoot very fast, nearly fourteen shots in a minute, 
without counting misses, and I had no tim.e to 
rest, or to drink. The consequence was that when 
the people crowded round me when 1 finished 1 
was partly sunstruck, and did not get over it for 
several days. In this feat 1 shot at 1,027 balls, 
and the last 300 I broke straight without a miss. 
This is the highest run 1 have ever made. 1 shot 
exhibitions after that in various places, undertaking 
to break 300 balls in 30 minutes, and I have gen- 
erally done it in from 20 to 24 minutes. At Pro- 
vidence, R. I., in E. W. Tinker's shooting gallery, 
I broke 300 balls in 19 minutes 35 seconds. At 



366 



APPENDIX. 



Cincinnati, Ohio, September 21, 1877, 1 broke 
1,000 balls in 1 hour 17 minutes, missing nineteen 
balls. 1 shot against Stubbs at Indianapolis, 1 to 
break 500 balls while he broke 450, on the 2d 
of November, 1877. We tossed for choice who 
was to shoot first. 1 got the toss, and going to 
the score bro4ie 500 in 35 minutes 4 seconds. He 
then shot, and when time was called he had 
broken only 361, so I won by 89 balls, and broke 
139 more than he in the same time. 

1 now come to the greatest feat of skill and en- 
durance 1 have ever attempted — the match to break 
5,000 balls in 500 minutes. Nothing of the sort 
in degree had ever been undertaken before, and 1 
now confess that 1 hardly realized the magnitude 
of the task until 1 saw before me the vast quan- 
tity of the material for it. When 1 saw the 70 
lbs. of gunpowder, the 500 lbs. of shot, and the ne- 
cessary wads and shells, I comprehended that I had 
undertaken a task sure to try my powers to the 
utmost. I trained for this match, if it is to be 
called training, by going through the exercise of 
raising my gun to my shoulder, and going through 
the motions 1 would have to make in the actual 
trial, and without this training 1 could not have 
won. But by putting up the gun several hundred 



APPENDIX. 367 

times a day, and makin-g the motions of firing, 
opening the breech, extracting spent cartridges, 
and reloading, 1 became inured. After the car- 
tridges were loaded and piled up 1 was almost 
scared at sight of what a stack they made. 
But the match was entered into and had been 
published, so it was no time to back out. 1 
was in pretty good fix, although 1 had suffered 
a little a few days before from a slight at- 
tack of pleurisy, for which I had a large 
porous plaster applied across the loins. 1 
slept but little the night before, partly because 
the magnitude of the undertaking was now clear 
to me, but mainly on account of a letter 1 
had received from my wife, warning me that 1 
should risk my life, and imploring me to give it 
up. But this I was determined not to do. 1 
got up very early in the morning, being unable 
to rest longer, and about ten o'clock I went to 
the Garden. The glass balls and my ammuni- 
tion had already arrived. I had engaged the best 
men 1 could get to trap for me, so as to avoid 
delay. Miles Johnson was referee, T. C. Banks, 
scorer, and Mr. Whitley was time-keeper. The 
time was taken from a timing clock placed on 
a table. Dr. Talbot pulled the traps. 



368 APPENDIX. 

At 2:40 P.M. I commenced shootmg, being in 
good condition and feeling quite Avell. 1 never 
shot better in my life than in the beginning of 
the match. As soo,n as I had fii-ed the first loads, 
nowever, I kneM' that I was in for a sore arm, as 
the gun kicked much harder than I looked for. 
The reason was this : I had ordered 70 lbs. of 
Dittmar powder to be made expressly for the match, 
and directed that it should be made strong. 
When it was delivered to me, 1 went to Mr. 
Harris's, on Broadway, to test a few of the cart- 
ridges charged with it. 1 shot in a cellar, and 
the gun kicked more than usual ; but 1 attributed 
this to its being fired in a small, close place. 1 
saw that the penetration was good ; therefore J 
made no change, but loaded all the cartridges 
with that extra-strong powder. The loads 1 shot 
with would have killed old cock grouse in De- 
cember, or ducks, or any sort of feathered game 
or wild-fowl. 1 shot on until I had broken 2,000 
balls, and, though my arm was sore, I did not 
mind it much, but went across the street to a 
hotel and took a hearty supper. This was a bad 
thing, 1 had much more wisely have taken a little 
light refreshment and kept on shooting. When I 
returned and began to shoot again, 1 felt cramp 



APPENDIX. 369 

in the right arm and hand. I kept )n until 1 had 
broken about 500 balls more, and then the cramp 
was so bad in my fingers that they closed upon 
the palm, and it required the use of the left hand 
to open the right one, and then it would close 
again. I got whiskey and rubbed the hand and 
arm, which did good for a time ; but presently the 
cramp returned. A gentleman among the specta- 
tors then told me to get a bucket of hot water 
and put my hand and arm in while as hot as I 
could bear it. This was a capital suggestion; 
without it I might have ftiiled to get through the 
feat. 1 stopped many times to bathe my hand 
and arm, but finally accomplished the work I had 
undertaken, with time to spare, as the record 
shows. 

100 1 llllllllllllllllilllll 

11111111111111111111111111 
10 111111111111111111111111 
111111110 11111111111111111 
1— Time, 6m. 16s. 

«00 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 

11111111111111111111111111 
llllllllllllllllllllllllli 
1111111111111111111111111- 
Time, 5m. 44s. 



370 



APPENDIX. 



300 1 111111111 






1111111111111 






1111111111111 






1111111111111 






1— Time, 6m. 85s. 






400 1 111111111 






1111111111111 






110 1111111111 






1111111111111 






1— Time, 6m. 40s. 






500 1 111111111 






1111111111111 






1111111111111 






111111111111 






—Time, 6m. 25s. 






600 1111111111 






1111111111111 






1111111111111 






1111111111111 




1111 1 — 


Time, om. 25s. 






TOO 1 111111111 






110 11111110 11 






1111110 111111 






1111111111111 


10 111111 




1 1 1 1— Time, 7m. 35s. 






800 1 111111111 


11111111 




1111110 10 1111 


1111110 1 




1111111111111 


110 11111 




1111111111111 


11111111 




1 1 1— Time, 6m. 50s. 







APPENDIX. 



371 



900 1 


11111 


110 111 




11111111 


1111 


110 11] 


11111 




1110 1111 


1111 


11111] 


L 1 1 1 1 




11111111 


1111 


111111 


110 11 




11111111 


1111- 


-Time, 6m. 


45s. 






1,000 


11111 






11111111 


1111 


111111 






11111111 


1111 


111111 






11110 111 


1111 


111111 






11111111 


1— Time, 


6m. 15s. 








1,100 1 


11111 






11111111 


1111 


110 111 






11111111 


1111 


111111 






11111111 


1 1 11 


11111 






11111111 


1— Time, 


6m. 40s. 








1,300... 1 


10 111- 




1110 1111111 


1111 


11111] 






11111111 


11111 


L 1 1 1 1 1 






1111111 


1111- 


111111 






11111111 


1111- 


-Time, 6m. 


50s. 






1,300 1 


111111 






11111111 


1111 


11110 1 






111110 11 


1111 


t 1 1 1 1 1 






11111111 


1111] 


L 1 1 1 1 1 


11111] 




11111111 


1— Time, 


7m. 10s. 








1,400 1 


I 1 1 1 1 1 






11111111 


1111] 


L 1 1 1 1 1 


11111 




111110 11 


11111 


11111 


111111 




11111111 


1111] 


L 1 1 1 1 1 


11111] 


L (recess one minute) 


1111] 


L 1 1 1 1 1 


1— Time, 7m. 


* 



372 APPENDIX. 

1,500 11111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111110111101111111 
11111011111111110111111111 
1 1 1— Time, 6m. 50s. 

1,600 1111101111111 1111111101 

11111101111111111111111111 
11111111111110111011111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
111 1— Time, 7m. 46s. 

1,700 11111111111110111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
11111110111111111111111111 
1— Time, 6m. 49s. 

1,800. .. 11111111111111111111111 
11111111111111011111111111 
1111111111111111111110 1111 
11111101111111011111111111 
1 1 1— Time, 7m. 35s. 

1,900 11111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111011111 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 
11111111111111111011111111 
•1 1— Time, 7m. 30s. 



APPENDIX. 373 

«,000 11111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111101111101 
11111101111111111111111111 
1 1— Time, 7m. 30s. 

3,100 111111110 11111111111111 

1111 (recess of 48m. los.) 111111111111 
11101111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
1111111111 1— Time, 5m. 25s. 

2,300 11111111111111111111111 

111111111111111111110 11111 
11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111110111111111111 
1 — Time, 6m. 45s. 

3,300. .. 11111111111111111110111 
11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
—Time, 6m. 20s. 

3,400 11111111111111111111110 

11111111111111111111111011 
11111011111111111111111111 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
1 1 1— Time, 6m. 45s. 



374 



APPENDIX. 



2,500 1 1111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 

11110111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 

— Time, 6m. 15s. 

2,600 11111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 

1111111111111111111111111 
—Time, 7m. 20s. 

2,700 11111110 111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 
11111111110 111111111111111 
11111011111111111111111111 

1 1— Time, 7ra. 15s. 

2,800 1 1111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 
11111111011011111111111111 
11111111111111110 111111111 
1 1— Time, 6m. 50s. 

3,900 1111111111111110 1111111 

11111111111111111111111111 
11111110111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
1— Time, 6m. 50s. 



APPENDIX. 



375 



3,000 1 

1111 
1111 
1111 
1— Time 

3,100 1 

1111 
1111 
10 1 
1111 

3,200 1 

1 1 1 
1 1 1 
1 1 1 



3,300... 1 
1 1 1 
10 1 

111 



3,400 



3,500 



1— Time, 8m 

1 

1 1 1 
1 1 1 
1 1 1 
1 1 1- 
....1 



111 
111 
1 1 1 



1 
1 
1 
1 

7m 
1 

(recess 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 



1— Time, 8m 





1 
1 

1 
Time, 



45s 



20m 



40s 



4os 



Time 



6m. 



20s. 



1— Time, 8m. 35s. 



6ib 


APPENDIX. 






3,600 1 1111 


111111 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1111111111 


1111 


111111 




1— Time, 8m. 25s. 








3,700 1 10 11] 


L 1 1 1 1 1 


111111 




10 11111113 


11111 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1 1— Time, 9m. 45s. 








3,800 1 111111 


11111 


111111 




1110 111111 


10 111 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




110 1111111 


11111 


111111 




1 1— Time, 7m. 45s. 








3,900. .. 111110 1 


11111 


10 111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


110 111 




■ 1111111111 


11111 


1 1 1 1 1 L 




1111 1— Time, 8i 


n. 55s. 






4,000 1 111111 


11111 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1011111110 


11111 


11110 1 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1 1 1— Time, 11m. 3 


Os. 






4,100 1 111111 


11111 


111111 




11111 (recess of 


13m. 10s.) 


111111 




1111111111 


11111 


111111 




1111111111 


110 11 


111111 


11111 


1111111111- 


-Time, 5m. 


20s. 





APPENDIX. 377 

4,300 11111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111011111111 
11111110111111111111111111 
1— Time, 7m. 40s. 

4,300 11111111111111111111111 

11111111111111101111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
11111111110111111111111111 
1— Time, 7m. 50s. 

4,400 11111111111111111111111 

11111111111111111111111110 
1111111111111111111111111 
(recess of 50s.) 1111111111111101111 
11111110 1 1— Time, 8m. 15s. 

4,500. ...11111111111110111111111 
11111111111101011111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
1 1— Time, 8m. 35s. 

4,600 11111111 (recess of 7m. 40s.) 111111 

11111111110 1111111111110 11 
11110 111111111111111111111 
11111111111111111111111111 
1111110 111 1— Time, 8m. 35s. 



378 



APPENDIX, 



4,700 1110 11110 111111111111 

1111111110 1111111111110 111 
11111111111111111111111111 

11110 111111111111111111111 

11111 1— Time, 8m. 55s. 

4,800 11111111111011 (recess of 4m. 

40s.) 11111111111111101111111 
11111101110101111111111111 
11111111110111111111011011 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 — Time, 9m. 
15s. 



4,900 111111111111111 (recess of 5m. 

50s.) 11111111111110111011111 
11111111111111111101101111 
11110101111111111111111110 
1111111111111111 1— Time, 9m. 50s. 

5,000 1 1110 111 (recess of 4m. 40s.) 1111 

111111111110 11111110 111111 
11111111111111011010111110 
11110111111111110111111110 
111111111111111110 1111- Time, 
10m. 5s. . 



APPENDIX. 



379 



THE OFFICIAL TTME RECORD. 



Hun- 
dred. 



Schedule 
Time. 



h.m. 



Ist 


2 50 


2 46 16 


2d 


3 00 


2 52 10 


3d 


3 10 


2 58 a5 


4th 


3 20 


3 05 15 


5th 


3 30 


3 11 40 


6th 


3 40 


3 17 f'5 


7th 


3 50 


3 24 40 


8th, 


4 00 


3 31 80 


9th 


4 10 


3 38 15 


10th 


4 20 


3 44 30 


nth 


4 30 


3 51 10 


12th 


4 40 


3 58 00 


13th 


4 50 


4 05 10 


14th 


5 00 


4 13 10 


15th 


5 10 


4 2O0O 


16th 


5 20 


4 27 46 


17th 


5 30 


434 35 


18th 


5 40 


4 42 10 


19th .... 


6 50 


4 49 80 


20th 


6 00 


4 57 00 


aist 


6 10 


5 50 40 


22d ... 


6 20 


5 57 25 


33d 


6 30 


6 03 45 


24th 


6 40 


6 10 30 


25th 


6 50 


6 16 45 


26th 


7 00 


6 24 05 


27th 


7 10 


6 31 20 


28th.... 


720 


6 38 10 


29th ... 


7 30 


6 45 CO 


30th 


740 


6 52 20 


31st 


7 50 


7 19 25 


32d 


8 00 


7 28 10 


33d 


8 10 


7 36 10 


34th 


,8 20 


7 43 50 


35th.... 


<8 30 


7 52 25 


36th 


8 40 


8 00 50 


37th 


8 50 


8 10 15 


38th 


9 00 


8 18 00 


39th. .. 


9 10 


8 26 55 


40th 


9 20 


8 38 25 


41st 


9 30 


8 57 55 


42d . . 


9 40 


9 05 35 


43d 


9 50 


9 13 25 


44th . . . 


10 00 


9 22 30 


45th 


10 10 


9 31 05 


46th 


10 20 


9 47 20 


47th . . . 


10 30 


9 56 15 


48th 


10 40 


10 10 10 


49th 


10 50 


10 25 50 


50th 


11 00 


10 40 35 



Actual 
Time. 

h. m. s. 



Lead. 



h. m. s. 



3 44 
8 00 
11 25 
14 45 

18 20 
22 55 

25 20 

28 30 
31 45 
35 30 
38 50 
42 00 

44 60 

46 50 
50 00 
52 14 
55 25 
57 50 

1 00 30 
1 03 00 

19 20 
22 35 

26 15 

29 30 
33 15 

35 55 

38 40 

41 50 

45 00 

47 40 

30 35 

31 50 

33 50 

36 10 

37 35 

39 10 
39 45 

42 00 

43 05 
41 35 

32 05 

34 2,' 

36 35 

37 30 

38 55 

32 40 

33 45 
29 50 
24 10 
19 25 



Shooting 

Time 
per 100. 

m. 8. 



6 16 

5 44 

6 35 
6 40 

6 25 

5 25 

7 35 

6 50 
6 45 
6 15 
6 40 

6 50 

7 10 
7 00 

6 50 

7 46 

6 49 

7 35 
7 20 
7 30 

5 25 

6 45 
6 20 
6 45 

6 15 

7 20 
7 15 
6 50 

6 50 

7 20 

6 20 

8 45 
8 00 

7 40 

8 35 

8 25 

9 25 

7 45 

8 55 
11 30 

6 20 

7 40 

7 50 

8 15 
8 35 
8 35 

8 55 

9 15 
9 50 

10 05 



Total 

Shooting 

Time. 

h. m. 8. 



6 16 

12 00 

18 35 

25 15 

31 40 

37 05 

44 40 

51 30 

58 15 

1 04 30 

1 It 10 

1 18 00 

1 25 10 

1 32 10 

1 39 00 

1 46 46 

1 53 35 

2 01 10 
2 C8 30 
2 16 00 
2 21 25 
2 28 10 
2 35 30 
2 42 15 
2 48 30 

2 55 50 

3 03 05 
3 09 55 
3 16 45 
3 5i4 05 
3 30 25 
3 39 10 
3 47 10 

3 54 50 

4 02 25 
4 10 50 
4 20 15 
4 28 00 
4 36 55 
4 48 25 

4 54 45 

5 02 25 
5 10 15 
5 18 30 
5 27 05 
5 35 40 
5 44 35 

5 53 50 

6 03 40 
6 13 45 



APPENDIX. 



h. m. g. 


msM$. 


.104 40 


23 


.1 1130 


82 


.107 15 


21 


.125 20 


32 


.125 20 


48 


6 13 45 


156 



380 



Time. m. s. 

First thoua&nd i ^^^ ^^^ ^^ '^^ ' 

j!irs» tnousana -j .^^ j^qq 33 ^q ^ 

Second thousand 2d^fSS.::: iiilroSl 

Third thousand j^^^loT" ::.i^ fs 

Fourth thousand ] Jfig?: :::;.• .IgTo j 

i^i'th thousand Ur^22:::::::4ll§j 

Total shooting time 6 13 45 



When the match was over, 1 got into a car- 
riage and went to the hotel, where I had my arm 
bathed and put on dry clothes. The next morn- 
ing my right arm was very bad. 1 was unable to 
raise it from the bed, and it felt as though it was 
paralyzed. A surgeon was sent for. He applied 
arnica and bandaged it, after which it was less 
painful, though greatly swollen and sore. Besides 
this trouble, there was such a roaring in my ears 
and pain in my head that 1 feared my brain was 
affected by the constant recoil of the gun.: This, 
however, was no doubt caused by concussion so 
often repeated on the drum of the ear. At least, 
this is what a friend of mine says. He states that 
the sailors who man the great guns in armored 
ships and monitors could never stand the concus- 
sion if their ears were not stuffed with cotton and 
otherwise protected. 



APPENDIX. .381 

HINTS ON DOGS AND DOG-BREAKING. 

BY MILES L. JOHNSON. 

I LIVE at Robbinsville, Mercer County, New 
Jersey, and I have very large practical experience 
in breeding, raising, and breaking dogs, pointers 
and setters, and in shooting over them. I am not a 
writer, neither am I an importer and dealer in sport- 
ing dogs. I do not intend to say anything about 
what others do in regard to breeding and breaking, 
and buying and selling dogs. Let every man have 
his own way. Some make much money by import- 
ing and breeding and selling; I do not begrudge 
them their profits, neithe-r do I covet their dogs. If 
their customers are satisfied, I am. But I have been 
asked to give the results of my personal experience 
and to describe my methods for the benefit of the 
readers of this book, and 1 shall do so. They can then 
judge whether what I say seems to be reasonable 
and worth following. Nearly every man who owns 
sporting dogs has some ways and views of his own 
in regard to breeds — to breeding, raising, breaking, 
and hunting them. I do not advise any man to dis- 
card his own methods, in whole or in part, to adopt 
mine, unless they are such as commend themselves 



382 APPENDIX. 

to his judgment upon full consideration. 1 have had 
over twenty years' experience in handling sporting 
dogs, having commenced in 1856. Some hundreds 
altogether have passed through my hands, and I have 
snot over pointers and setters every season. I com- 
menced right in this neighborhood. At that time 
there was a fair amount of game in this section 
of country. Quail were plentiful. Ruffed grouse' 
were often to be met with. Snipe were abundant in 
the spring and fall, and there were a good many 
duck and a good many woodcock. I could bag from 
eight to fifteen brace of birds a day, and never go 
over five miles from the place where I live. From 
that time to this game has gradually become scarce, 
so that at the present time a man cannot bag as 
many in a week as he could then sometimes do in a 
day. Some think game laws will remedy this. 1 
wish they could, but 1 do not believe it. The thick 
settlement of the country and the clearing up and cul- 
tivating of waste land is what has mainly tended to 
make game scarce. The quail have less chance now 
to get through hard winters than they used to have, 
because the sheltered places are more scarce. The 
best snipe-grounds are now drained, and wheat, corn, 
and potatoes grow where they used to abound. 
Therefore dog-breaking, for real service in the field, 



APPENDIX. 383 

is not now very practicable in this section ; for 1 a& 
sert that whatever the strain of the dog may be, nc 
matter how many prizes at shows his parents may 
have taken, and how high his price may have been 
when a puppy, he can only be properly broken over 
game. Nothing else will do, and nine out of ten of 
the dogs vaunted about by the fanciers and dealers 
are practically worthless in the field. In my own 
practice I always began with two dogs together, and 
1 am now satisfied that 1 often began with them when 
they were too young. At that time I was a hard 
man to out-travel. I found no one, that I remember, 
who could out-travel me after any kind of game. 
As a rule, I M^ould work about six dogs, in this way : 
1 began on Monday morning with a brace, and had 
them out until noon; 1 then took them home, and 
after dinner took out another brace and worked them 
in the afternoon. On Tuesday morning 1 took out 
the third brace, and after hunting them until noon 
I began with the first brace again in the afternoon. 
In that way the young dogs would have a rest 
of a day, besides their nights after each half- 
day's work, it was none too much, and the work 
was quite enough to make them good, steady, 
well-broken dogs. J now believe and declare that 
i turned out more good dogs at that time than 



384 APPENDIX. 

any other breaker that I know of, and there ate 
many old sportf^men still about who will back 
this assertion. The dogs I handled were mostly 
American bred. Occasionally 1 got hold of im- 
ported dogs. Some of them turned out well, but 
as a rule they had a great deal more pedigree 
than ambition and stamina, and three-fourths of 
them were not half so good as good dogs bred 
in America were. I am fully convinced that it 
is just the same now. Breeding from dogs be- 
cause their fathers and mothers took prizes at dog- 
shows in England is a rank delusion, and nothing 
but a snare for the practical man. This is not 
the opinion of the importers and dealers, but it 
is that of every practical man who shoots much. 
For those who merely potter about a little with 
a gun one dog is about as good as another, pro- 
vided he won't run away the moment the gun 
is fired, which the show dogs very often do. 

My plan of breaking was to mate the dogs as 
evenly as possible in the first place. I watched 
them as closely as 1 could in speed and *;emper. 
If 1 had a pair of headstrong dogs — they often 
make the very best when properly broken — 1 put 
them together. A bold, vigorous, headstrong dog 
and a shy, timid one make a very bad brace to 



APPENDIX 385 

handle. Mild, easy-tempered dogs should be mated 
and worked together. The closer they match in 
speed and disposition the better it will be in 
regard to their teachableness and breaking. This 
should be remembered by every sportsman. 
Another thing to be kept in mind is that a 
great many dogs are spoiled by being worked 
too young. There is a wide difference in this 
respect. Some are fit to go into the field at eight 
months old, and some are better not there before 
they are a year, or even a year and a half. 
Men must use their own judgment about this 
matter, but as a rule 1 prefer dogs to have age 
and to have got rid of their puppy habits before 
putting them to steady, breaking work. Even 
when young dogs are of the proper age care 
should be taken not to overwork them. You will 
sometimes see men out with a brace of young 
dogs ill-matched — one with great spirit and 
stamina, the other lacking in those qualities. 
Now, he runs a great risk of spoiling the last- 
named from overwork. The danger is increased 
where a young dog is taken out with a seasoned 
old one. Young dogs cannot bear much work 
without becoming tired, jaded, and discouraged. 
They lose heart, and^ as 1 believe, their scenting 



386 iPPBNDIX. 

power is impaired. Many a dog has been con- 
demned and discarded as useless when the fault 
was really more in his master than himself. 
With more age and less work his qualities would 
have come out. He would have had more spirit, 
more ambition, and in time more stamina and 
better nose. 1 have known many cases in which 
dogs were not worth much at two or three years 
old, but were in the first class at four and five 
years. Some say that the new imported strains 
from prize dogs are as good young as old. That 
means they are never really good at all. They 
are just like the prize boys, who are the wonder 
of the school at seven years old and stupid block- 
heads at seventeen. A dog who does not keep 
on improving until he is quite old, if he has pro- 
per opportunities, is never good. 

in regard to teaching dogs to retrieve, there 
is this to be said first : If I was breaking a brace 
of dogs to shoot over myself I should only teach 
one of them to retrieve. As a general rule, when 
two dogs are together, and both of them retrieve, 
they are apt to be over-anxious to recover dead 
birds, and apt to get breaking shot. In many 
cases they also contract a habit of biting the 
birds. My plan is, if a dog takes to retrieving 



APPENDIX. 387 

and is intended to follow it, to hunt with him 
alone one fall season and teach him to do it in 
a proper manner. This will require some care. 
Sometimes a dog will be very handy and teach- 
able and will soon do what he is wanted to do. 
Others will not learn so soon or so easily. When 
1 have one of the latter kind 1 hunt with him, so 
as to get him thoroughly stanch on the point, 
back, and stand. I then take him into the yard 
and break him to retrieve under the whip, by 
which means he will be well broke, and may be 
taken into the field again with confidence that he 
will do what is required and will do nothing else, 
it is a great mistake to break a dog to retrieve 
before he knows anything else. That ought to be 
one of the last things to learn rather than one of 
the first. Yet the proper order is often reversed, 
and men teach mere puppies to fetch and carry. 1 
have seen many young dogs broken to retrieve in 
this way, and the consequence has been that in the 
field they were always seeking something to retrieve 
and cared nothing for the real business required — 
the finding and pointing birds. Such do not go to 
the work nearly as well as they would if they 
knew nothing about retrieving. That should be the 
last thing for them to learn. A dog can be taught 



388 APPENDIX. 

to retrieve at any age, and made to do it properly. 
I am in favor of using the spike collar. It does 
away with the necessity for much hard whipping. 
For instance, if you have a dog inclined to run 
away from you when you want to chain him up, and 
to hide in some hole or under a building, put a spike 
collar on him with plenty of cord. Let him go 
where he wants. Then call him back, and if he 
does not come give him a little hauling upon the 
cord, severely at last. In a few times he will come 
to call. A few trials of this kind will bring him 
to proper subjection sooner than anything else 1 
have ever tried, and with less trouble. No matter 
how headstrong a dog may be, it will teach him 
that he must come when called ; and with timid 
ones it is also effectual, as it makes them face 
their breaker and learn that he will do them no 
harm if they obey willingly and promptly. 

[ believe the best way to break a bad, timid, gun- 
shy dog is for the owner or the breaker to break their 
necks and have an end with them at once. It seldom 
pays the owner or the breaker to persevere with a dog 
of this kind. He is simply unfit by nature for his 
business. As a rule, it takes a long time and a great 
deal of trouble to make anything at all of such a 
dog, and eight times out of ten, after all the time, 



APPENDIX. 389 

trouble, and expense, these dogs are worthless to 
the sportsman, the constant cause of disappointment 
and defeat instead of pleasure and success. 1 be- 
lieve there are many more of this poor sort of dogs 
in the country now than there ever were at any 
former period, and, what is worse, they are being 
bred from, and their puppies are vaunted as very 
superior, when in all probability they are not worth 
the price of the cord which ought to be used to hang 
them. People suffer themselves to be fooled by 
pedigree, as if that was the sole thing wanted, when 
it is only one of the essential things required, 
and is of itself useless. Timid, gun-shy dogs 
are constitutionally defective, and a pedigree five 
miles long cannot make them progenitors of 
real good dogs for practical service. A great 
many dogs have been imported to this country 
of late which had these constitutional defects, 
and were worthless" for anything, but, being im- 
ported and having a pedigree from the other side, 
they are bred from. This is all wrong. Even if 
the pedigree is genuine the dog may be worthless 
from constitutional defects. The pedigree may not 
be genuine, for the dog-dealers and show-fanciers in 
England denounce one another as giving out false 
pedigrees. If that is the case there, how are we to 



390 APPENDIX. 

rel}- upon the pedigrees of dogs sold to come here 1 
There are scores, perhaps hundreds, of so-called 
sporting dogs in this country utterly useless for 
anything further than exhibition at bench-shows. 
For that purpose they do very well, and if they and 
all their produce were confined to these exhibitions 
alone it would be a good thing, as they are utterly 
worthless in the field or for breeding purposes. 
The thing is a mischievous delusion, except as a 
show to be stared at. It does not matter how 
honest and experienced the judges may be ; they 
cannot pick out the real good dog by looking at the 
exterior points of twenty. The field-trial system is 
better than the bench-show, because, though it may 
not afford anything like a good test, even compara- 
tively between the dogs engaged, it must, if honestly 
conducted, betray the timid and gun-shy wretches. 1 
know of some dogs which have had premiums award- 
ed to them about New York and Philadelphia when 
they were actually not worth the value of the collars 
and chains which kept them on the benches. How 
should it be otherwise ^ Many of the exhibitors 
never shot a bird over a dog in their lives, and 
know nothing of the properties and qualities which 
are essential in a real good sporting dog. Others 
are mere mercenary traders upon public credulity, 



APPENDIX. 391 

and have neither principle nor conscience in the 
matter. These premium dogs, with a pedigree as 
large as a cellar-door, are not only bred for ex- 
hibition at bench-shows, but simple people buy 
their produce at high prices for regular work. 
The consequence is, generally speaking, disappoint- 
ment and disgust to the purchaser. Very often 
the seller knows that it will be, but he looks for 
a new crop of dupes at regular intervals; and if 
anybody exposes the deception and imposture, as 
I do now, the whole pack of rogues, and a great 
many of their foolish victims as well, turn upon 
him and abuse him. Twenty years ago men com- 
monly bred pointers and setters from dogs that 
were known to be good workers and himters, just 
as the horsemen breed from known and well-tried, 
good horses. They do not go by pedigree alone, 
but follow the winning families closely ; and this 
means the families that win races, not those who 
take premiums at shows. If a dog was not a 
good, persevering hunter, and had all the natural 
qualities of a good field dog, he was not bred 
from, when 1 first began to break. It was then a 
rare thing for me to get a dog which did not 
make a good, one with proper teaching and prac- 
tice. Eight out of ten were turned out of the 



392 APPENDIX. 

breaker's hands qualified to give satisfaction to 
sportsmen in the field. Now it is the reverse. 
If two in ten turn out well you may think your- 
self well off. This state of aflfairs has been brought 
about by breeding from dogs who had nothing but 
pedigree (true or false) to recommend them. My 
own opinion is that one-half of the dogs brought 
over here of late have been just such as English- 
men and Irishmen did not want for their own use 
and would not keep to breed from on any ac- 
count. Most of the other half had been bred 
solely for purposes of exhibition, and were not 
worth a dollar apiece for anything else. These 
dogs had fair looks and long pedigrees, but nothing 
in the world else. When it came to brain, vigor 
of constitution, spirit, and ambition, they utterly 
failed. How, then, could they produce good dogs? 
1 state what I have learned by experience, and 
nothing more. 

I believe 1 have had as many dogs of this char- 
acter through my hands as most men — too many 
for my own good. 1 have some yet, and am 
likely to have ; for there is not the making of 
good dogs in them. No pains, skill, and trouble 
can effect it. This is also the case with the ma- 
jority of sportsmen, and it will continue to be so 



APPENDIX. 393 

AS long as dogs are bred from solely on account 
of pedigree, which may be true so far as the 
writing goes, but is practically worthless if the 
ancestors were mere show dogs. The number of 
these useless animals is increasing all the time, 
and the more bench-shows there are the worse 
the stock of our dogs becomes. Sportsmen all 
over the country will agree in this, although those 
who breed dogs to show and sell will of course 
deny it. Some newspapers will deny it also, but 
that will be because they are under the influence 
of the breeders for sale, and of those who are 
interested in the foolish and mischievous shows. 

Now in regard to the kind of dog, setter or 
pointer, which 1 like to have and from which 1 
would breed. 1 want dogs of good courage, plenty 
of ambition, and good nose. They will commonly 
have good pedigiee, but it may not have been 
set down and traced back for generations. The 
really good dog is always the produce of good an- 
cestors, and the trouble with most of the imported 
strains is simply this : their ancestors, although 
perhaps celebrated as show-dogs, were not good 
for any other purpose.* With courage, ambition, 
and good scenting faculty 1 can turn out a good 
dog; without them 1 cannot, though the animal 



394 APPENDIX. 

may have a pedigree a mile long, and may have 
cost its owner a large sum of money. Dogs that 
are heel-hangers, gun-shy, and generally weak in 
constitution are of no use for any purpose, and 
in the hands of a breaker they merely run up a 
bill against the owner. Now, the good breaker 
don't want this. He wants to turn out such dogs 
as will give satisfaction to their owners in the 
field. This cannot be done with such fancy stock 
as has been of late propagated and bragged about 
and exhibited at shows. 

The way to get a good dog for a reasonable 
price is simply this : let somebody else breed him 
and break him ; then, if he suits you in other re- 
spects, you can require a reasonable trial in the 
field and see how he acts after birds. 1 don't 
mean a trial of a few minutes in competition with 
another dog, because they may be both bad ones, 
and no short trial is sufliicient. You want to buy 
him for large merit, not simply because he may 
be better than some other man's lunkhead, and 
you must see how he acts at the close of a long 
day and the next day. If he satisfies you, buy him 
if you can, and have nothmg to do with puppies. 
At $250 he will be much cheaper to you in the 
end than half a dozen puppies, as puppies run 



APPENDIX. 395 

nowadays, even if yon got them for nothing. But 
a man can commonly get such a dog as 1 describe 
for about half of $250, unless he wants one with 
a fashionable pedigree of the new sort. When a 
dog has high courage, ambition, fine nose, and good 
endurance, with a grand pedigree as well, he will 
fetch a large price. There are some such dogs, 
but they are not often for sale. If a man wants 
a dog to walk with him in the streets and be 
looked at ; to go into gun-stores and saloons, and 
sit and talk about ; to have gentlemen stop and 
say, " What a beautiful dog! " let him get one of 
the imported strains with a great pedigree. I have 
some of that sort, and should be glad to dispose 
of them. But if a gentleman wants one for real 
sport in the field, and knows v/hat a good dog is, 
not one in ten of these costly, flashy sort will 
answer his purpose. 

If I wanted a dog for real business in the West, 
say for a shooting excursion of from two weeks to 
six, after prairie chickens and quail, 1 should fall 
back on the old stock brought to this State long 
ago by such men as Commodore Stockton, William 
Norcross, Judge Beasley, etc. These have been 
known as the grouse and roller stock for over 
'iwenty years by me, and how much longer among 



396 APPENDIX. 

older sportsmen 1 cannot say. Horace Smith can 
tell moi-e about their origin than 1 can, but their 
stanch and excellent qualities I know all about. 
They lay over any imported stock that I have 
ever met with. In the West I have seen them 
well tested with the fine-haired stock, which had 
all the beauty and pedigree sporting-dogs can 
have ; but when it came to every-day work, and 
hard work, I would sooner have a brace of the old 
stock than a wagon-load of the new. 1 speak from 
an experience of twenty-one years, and I have had 
hundreds of sporting-dogs, while many of those 
who oppose my views never had a good dog in 
their lives. In 1876 I started West in the month 
of August with seven dogs. Three of them were 
of the old New Jersey stock, four of imported 
strains with pedigrees the length of your arm. 1 
worked them two months, and during that time 
never got a Mv point from any one of the last 
four. On the other hand, I did not come across 
any dog in the whole route that beat the first three 
in their work. Yet 1 fell in with some of the 
very highest imported stock in the hands of good 
men, and it was an easy thing for the Jersey dogs 
to beat them. I will not mention names, but tlio 
owners of these dogs know that the old stock 



APPENDIX. 397 

beat them al] to pieces at real work. There 
IS, 1 repeat, no sense in breeding from a dog just 
because he has a pedigree, if he is deficient in 
other essential qualifications. 1 think the only 
sensible way to breed is either to stick to the old 
stock or to select the best dogs of the foreign 
strains for courage^ nose, and stamina, and cross 
them with our old stock. If the breeding in and 
into animals which have nothing to recommend 
them but pedigree and looks go on, the produce will 
get worse and worse, although it is hardly possible 
for any thing to be more useless than the majority 
of them are now, and it will be a hard job to get 
a dog fit for real service in the field. The up- 
holders of the dog-shows have gone to work the 
wrong way. The first thing to be insisted on is 
the dog shall be fit for his work ; after that, as 
fine in appearance and as long in pedigree as you 
like. The latter is nothing but a mere delusion 
and a snare, if the working qualities are absent 
and the dog has little courage and little nose. 
It is said, I know, that a dog with a fine pedi- 
gree, although of no use himself in the field, may 
get dogs that will be. This is nonsense. The 
parent dog is worthless for work, therefore his 
^->edigree has been of no practical use in his case, 



398 APPENDIX. 

and the inference is that it will not be in his pro- 
duce. Jt is easy enough to get dogs that- are ex- 
cellent for real service and have good pedigrees, 
though perhaps not fashionable ones. Now, it is 
better to breed from such as these. 1 would 
rather have one of them for work than a brace of 
the finest Laveracks that ever was imported. The 
majority of the latter are only fit to look at. 
They have no work in them, as 1 have discovered 
from having tried a numbei*. I proceed upon a 
different principle from the showmen and breeders 
for sale. 1 want capability for good work in the 
field first and foremost. They want looks and a 
pedigree on paper first and foremost. The quali- 
ties essential in the dog for the real sportsman 
are not needed for their purpose. It is true that 
they would rather their dogs possessed these 
qualities than not, because when it is found that 
they are lacking in them the purchasers are disap- 
pointed. But many of them shoot but little, and 
the dog being admired by all the blockheads of 
the gentleman's acquaintance, he does not easily 
become convinced that he is useless. When he is 
convinced of it he will not acknowledge it, as he 
does not want people to know that he has given 
hundreds of dollars for a dog not worth fifty 



APPENDIX. 399 

'*/€nts. With dogs properly qualified for work the 
more beauty and style the better, and a ver\j few 
of the imported dogs have them all three. These 
are the ones to cross with our old-fashioned 
breeds to good purpose. Unfortunately, the dog- 
shows ignore the main requisites altogether. 

In regard to raising sporting dogs, I am of 
opinion that as a general thing puppies should be 
raised in the country, on farms where they can 
have their liberty to a certain extent. A puppy 
should not be put on a chain, neither should he 
be kept in too small a place. 1 like a large yard 
for them. If kept on a farm, and suffered to go 
with the men when they go to work, and to play 
around, they are not near so apt to be timid and 
gun-shy. It is little trouble to watch them at 
first, and if they get at bad tricks, such as killing 
poultry and worrying sheep, it is not difficult to 
stop them then. A little attention is required, 
and by the time the pup is six months old he 
will be cured of those things. He will then be 
large enough to have a strap and chain put on. 
All dogs and all puppies should be kept shut up 
at night. The damage done to sheep and poultry 
through dogs is mainly caused by letting them 
run loose at night. They get in with other dogs 



400 APPENDIX. 

and ivhen three or four are off' together, out of 
sight, they are most apt to do mischief. 1 keep 
my dogs on the chain only when I am with them, 
and this is certainly the proper way. After a dog 
is grown up it is an easy matter to make him 
know where his place is. 1 have had as many as 
thirty-six at one time. I keep them in this way : 
1 have a place for each and every dog. In a 
room sixteen feet square I can keep twelve dogs. 
They are chained side by side, with chain enough 
for each dog to lie down, and they can reach 
each other, but they are not allowed chain enough 
to get tangled. In the summer and warm wea- 
ther I bed them with saw-dust ; in winter with 
straw. I let them loose morning and night. 
They soon learn not to make dirt. If any is 
made it is necessary to clean it up forthwith. 
The cleaner dogs are kept the cleaner their habits 
will be. 1 do not like to keep dogs in small 
boxes or dog-houses, especially in warm weather, 
when the hot sun pours down on them. They 
need shade. J prefer a building that has plenty 
of room overhead, and is so arranged that the 
dogs always have a large supply of fresh air. In 
warm weather water should always be kept by 
them, and it should be changed two or three times 



APPENDIX. 401 

a day. The dogs should be kept off the ground. 
By keeping dogs in this way, and giving them 
from twenty to thirty minutes' exercise at night 
and morning, they will be in good health and 
condition. 

1 feed as follows : I buy up scraps of beef or 
pork, the latter in preference. These I chop up 
fine and boil well, with a good handful of salt. 
After the meat is well cooked 1 thicken the broth 
with Indian meal. This meal 1 have made to 
order, a little coarser than is usual with meal for 
family use, but well sifted. After the meal is put 
in the broth it is to be boiled until well cooked. 
It is then suffered to get cool. I make it every 
day, so as to have it always fresh. Upon this 
food I can keep dogs in better health and con- 
dition than upon any other 1 ever tried. If at 
any tim.e m.y dogs do not look bright and well, 
and do not appear to feel quite right, I put a 
handful of sulphur into this meal-and-meat food ; and 
it is a very rare thing for me to have any mange 
or other disease among my d pgs. For mange all 
I do is to give the dog a little sulphur and rub 
him with kerosene oil. This 1 pour on and rub 
m well. It remains on from twelve to twenty-four 
hours. The dog then has a good washing with 



402 APPENDIX. 

water and castile soap. If the weather is warm, 
the dog should be taken into a pond of water and 
well lathered all over with soap. This treatment., 
repeated a few times, has invariably cured my 
dogs of mange. In regard to distemper 1 have 
been quite as successful; foi% of all the hundreds of 
dogs 1 have had, 1 never lost but one in my life 
with that disease, when I had a fair start with it. 
In the first place, as soon as 1 see any symptoms 
of distemper I keep the dog entirely off the 
ground, well up, and give plenty of good dry bed- 
ding, and keep him as warm as can conveniently 
be done. A little sulphur in milk is the first 
thing by way of medicine; then a dose of castor- 
oil. Repeat the last, if necessary. That is about 
all 1 do. It is my belief that half the dogs which 
are said to die of distemper are killed by over- 
dosing with various medicines. It once happened 
that I had four dogs in which I saw the symp- 
toms of the coming-on of distemper, when 
an old English fancier called at my house. He 
looked at the dogs, told me I must attend to 
them or they would die, and gave me a pre- 
scription to have made up as medicine. That 
would cure them, sure. Now, there was among 
them a pointer which 1 thought would be worth 



APPENDIX. 403 

quite as much dead as alive, and he was a good 

patient to practise on. I followed the old man's 
directions with care to a tittle in regard to the 
pointer. The other three were treated according 
to my own simple plan. They got well. The 
pointer could not stand the pressure of the infalli- 
ble medicine after two days' treatment, and on the 
fifth day he died. 1 hold it to be certain that 
there are more dogs and other domesticated ani- 
mals killed by medicine than are saved by it. i 
use less physic than any other man 1 know of, 
and I lose fewer dogs in proportion than any other 
man. At the same time 1 find no one who keeps 
a kennel of dogs in better condition than mine 
are, while there are many whose dogs are not as 
well in point of condition. The means are simply 
a good place for them, dry and well ventilated, 
benches up off the ground, good exercise, good 
food such as 1 have mentioned, plenty of fresh 
water, and perfect cleanliness. Without the last 
no success will follow. They must not be with- 
out plenty of exercise, and some need more than 
others. Some require more food than others. 
With a little attention a man can soon tell what 
will su,'^. best. I always make my dogs eat up 
what 1 give them. When I feed them I watch 



404 APPENDIX. 

them closely. If { discover that a dog is getting 
cloyed, and believe that his stomach is a little 
weak or overloaded, I tal^e away that portion he 
does not want to eat, and give him nothing the next 
time of feeding. When his appetite returns 1 am 
careful not to give too much. My aim is to keep 
the dogs in such a way that they will eat at pro- 
per feeding-time, and then I give as much as will 
satisfy them and make them keep quiet. This is 
not as much as the gluttonous, hearty feeders would 
want, but as much as is good for them. In the 
shooting season, when they are at work, commonly 
hard work, they have all they can eat. Coming 
in at night, 1 give them all they will eat up, and 
a good bed. In the morning, before going out, 
they will not eat enough to hurt them. If dogs 
are stinted at night, and given all they can eat 
in the morning, they so overload their gtomachs 
that they cannot and do not work well. I avoid 
feeding anything which will cause thirst. If a dog 
fills himself with water he is of very little use 
while he is full. 

Some men are opposed to giving their dogs any 
meat, but 1 think some meat is necessary. With 
some meat a dog obtains strength and keeps it^ 
when he could not do so if fed altogether on light 



APPENDIX. 405 

Stuff, if he filled himself with it all the time. 1 
have often been West, and in other places, where 
1 could not get meat scraps. 1 have then got 
beef tripes, paunches. 1 wash thein as clean as 
possible, hang them up until cry, then cut them 
up and feed them to the dogs. They are very 
fond of that food, work well on it, and it keeps 
them in good heart and streng4;h. In exercis- 
ing in the summer-time, when the weather is 
hot, 1 generally take my dogs to the water, 
which is about three-quarters of a mile from my 
house. They soon learn what is wanted and go 
in. If they have fleas 1 take a piece of soap and 
give, them a good washing. They run through the 
grass and eat all they want. It is an excellent 
thing for dogs, and the inability to get it is the 
cause of sickness in many dogs. In the summer 
season they need more grass than many people 
suppose. When my dogs take on too much flesh, 
I hitch up my horse and give them five, ten, fif- 
teen, and sometimes twenty miles, according to 
circumstances. If the weather is hot this is done 
very early ; the start is at daybreak or a little 
before. 1 have started many times before daylight 
with from four to ten dogs, and met strange par- 
tieji on the road. They gave me all the r&ad, 



406 APPENDIX. 

especially tramps. Many a tramp have the dogs 
treed or made to climb the fence. The dogs like 
that kind of work. 1 have no trouble in getting 
them to follow. One will always follow the other, 
in going through towns of good size with a lot 
of dogs, the best plan is to send your horse along 
about as fast as the dogs can run. They will then 
follow much better than if you go slow. 1 al- 
ways have a whistle with me, and they come to 
it mighty quick. In all cases in hot weather take 
a road where there is plenty of water. I can strike 
three or four mill-ponds in a ten-mile drive ; and 
this is of the greatest advantage. When I come 
to one I stop and give the dogs a few minutes to 
drink, cool off, and rest ; then off again. If I find 
that one of my dogs is getting tired and dis- 
tressed, I take him into the wagon. It wiH not 
answer to let a young dog run himself down 
tired, as it is apt to discourage him, which is a 
very bad thing. Sometimes, in exercising after 
this manner, the dogs will pick up a chicken oi 
a young turkey. If that happens I stop and at- 
tend to the case there and then. Sometimes 1 
whip it out, and have to settle with the owner 
for the bird. I soon teach the dogs how to 
travel and get them way-wise. This kind of 



APPENDIX. 407 

work makes them hard and muscular, and is far 
better than medical treatment to reduce flesh. If 
it is followed up they will come out strong, long- 
winded, and able to bear any reasonable amount 
of work in the field. 1 have now given the results 
of my own experience and my own method of 
breaking dogs, keeping them in health, and pro- 
ducing good condition. 1 think it may be of ser- 
vice to the readers of this book, to all sportsmeD, 
&ad to their dogs. 



408 APPENDIX. 



A CHAT WITH SPORTSMEN. 

There is a fraternity existing in this and other 
countries which, though possessing no mysterious 
insignia, no secret signs, grips, or mottoes, no 
binding oaths, is yet as firm in its friendships as 
if sworn brothers ; and this is the fraternity of 
sportsmen. And, unlike other brotherhoods, it 
meets on a common ground, and the pursuits, 
occupations, and *' aims " are, for the nonce at 
least, the same. They have the same end in view 
and are members of the same great organization. 
For instance : Leave your State, wherever it may 
be, and travel hundreds of miles in any direction, 
alight at any small station, and after a sound 
sleep take your gun, whistle Rover to heel, and 
start out through the leafy forest, already perhaps 
blushing rosy-red at the first kiss of winter, un- 
lii, as you come into the open, your dog, who 
has taken the lead, suddenly stops with one paw 
uplifted, his tail straight out, and his whole frame 
quivering with suppressed excitement, while his 
whole body seems to say, *' Oh ! if 1 only dared." 
The gun is cocked, a careful step or two onward, 
when WHIR, whir, wl^ir^ whir-r-r-r ! and your 



APPENDIX. 409 

gun springs to your shoulder, the flame-hued 
smoke leaps from the barrels, and two fluttering 
witnesses of your skill fall to the ground, only 
to be gathered by your well-trained pointer or 
setter. And as he comes joyfully bounding to 
you, and you stoop to take the birds and caress 
his willing head, hark ! not far from the right 
come two answering reports, and, stepping for- 
ward, you see a little cloud of smoke drifting 
lazily in the still morning air, and a velveteen- 
clad sportsman comes towards you, with his Scott 
breech-loader resting on his shoulder. Is it not 
true that a hearty ''good-morning" is invaria- 
bly spoken, followed by a comparison of bags 
and often by a " nip " "? for the morning is sharp 
and has a touch of frost in it. 

And if you both be companionless how quickly 
is a partnership formed and how a friendly rivalry, 
without a tinge of envy, immediately springs up! 
For the day you are one, and you only separate 
with regret — and a few hours before you were to- 
tal strangers. Yet you are members of that great 
fraternity I spoke of a few lines back ; you are 
both sportsmen, and, believe me, in nine cases out 
of ten — yes more — the true sportsman is a man it 
will do to " tie to " ; the man who loves his gun 



410 APPENDIX. 

and his dog and who is not a " good fellow '* is 
indeed a rara avis. For all of his surroundings 
trend in the direction of being sociable and friendly 
with all whom he may meet; he is often alone, 
wandering for hours with no living companion but 
his dog, and these hours are spent in communing 
with nature in ail of her majestic beauty as set 
forth in all her varied aspects. The branching 
trees, all clothed in a garb of living green, or at 
times dressed in fantastic colors which the rain- 
bow can alone imitate ; for it is not within the 
scope of an artist's talents to reproduce them. 
The birds, dancing from limb to limb, and filling 
the air to overflowing with the melody which 
comes throbbing from their little breasts, scarce 
seem to be aware of his presence, or, knowing it, 
are conscious of their security, for they seem to 
be aware of the fact that no sportsman" would 
turn his murderous weapon against them. (1 use 
the word "murderous" advisedly, for the killing 
of any but a game-bird in season^ or a bird of 
prey, becomes murder, pure and unadulterated. 
1 except, of course, those killed in the interest of 
natural history.) The green sward beneath his 
feet, softer than any carpet made by the hand of 
man, its bright green more vivid here and there 



APPENDIX. 411 

as a half-hidden rock shows its moss-covered sur. 
face, toned down in places by the gray lichens 
peeping through ; the rippling brook, sparkling 
in the sunlight, and which yields a grateful 
draught to the thirsty hunter, as prone on its 
banks he drinks deep, while the trout flash and 
leap into the air, snapping at the careless fly 
which has ventured too near the surface of the 
water — does not all this tend to soften him and 
to make him at peace with all mankind ? 

I find that, as years roll on and the time re- 
maining becomes of more and more value to me, 
it becomes of great importance that 1 should 
not waste what lease of life remains ; and as 
the birds are plentiful or scarce, so will the days 
spent in the pursuit of them be profitable or 
otherwise. To tramp all day, with setter or 
pointer — in whose development 1 am so much inte- 
rested — and find but a covey or two of quail, seems 
like twelve hours thrown away, so 1 prefer going a 
little farther away and recouping myself for time 
lost on the journey by the increased weight of the 
bag, as, walking home through the gathering twi- 
light, the voice of the whip-poor-will echoes from 
afar, the hoarse tones of the frogs droning their 
diapason on the still air like a chorus to the song- 



412 APPENDIX. 

stcr, while the gnats dance to each other by the 
torch of the lightning-bug, until home is reached, 
and in answer to the invariable question, " What 
luck ? " the birds, with hanging heads, as if 
ashamed of being caught out so late in such com- 
pany, are thrown on the table, and a feeling of 
13ride wells up exceeding that which you felt when 
you made that right-and-left shot a few hours agone. 
In 1883 I decided that I would thenceforth 
neither issue nor accept challenges for any kind of 
shooting. Many years ago I determined that if on 
reaching my fiftieth year I still retained the champion- 
ship, I would withdraw from the field and leave it 
open to younger aspirants. In pursuance of this design 
I wrote, in that year, the subjoined letter to the edi- 
tor of the American Field, Chicago, which more fully 
sets forth my reasons, and contained as well the data 
from which my claims may be substantiated : 

Elkhart, III., November 26, 1883. 
Editor American Field : In your issue of Sep- 
tember 15 you published a letter from a prominent 
shot, addressed to another person, who likewise lays 
claim to the title of " Champion Shot of the World," 
and in response thereto 1 wrote a communication 
which you kindly gave wide publicity to by a place 
in your columns. 



APPENDIX. 413 

Said communication from me was a letter in 
which 1 made the very true assertion that " there 
could not be two champions for any one thing," and 
to show my willingness to back up my claims to the 
honored title of '' Champion Shot of the World," a 
title which 1 have won and claim, I issued the chal- 
lenge which you published, and certainly expected 
that said challenge would be accepted by some of 
the so-called champion shots, especially as I placed 
in your hands a deposit of two hundred and fifty 
dollars as a forfeit on one or all matches that might 
follow the publication of my letter in the American 
Field ^ for it was open to any man in the world. 

Twelve years ago 1 won the title of *' Champion 
Pigeon Shot of America," and since then no one has 
wrested from me that championship, while, upon 
going to England with the American Rifle Team in 
1875, 1 issued a challenge to the United Kingdom, 
and faced my adversaries, who accepted in eighteen 
matches, all of which 1 won. 

1 also afterwards won a medal as " Champion 
Shot of the World," and in returning to England 
in 1878 captured a cup there for the same honored 
title. 

Perhaps, to give the public whom I address 
through your columns a better idea of my claim 
to the name of " Champion Shot," it would be well 
to here mention certain matches that 1 have won 
against famous and formidable persons, the champ, 
ionship which 1 assert 1 have the sole right to. 

In 1871, at Fleetwood Park, 1 shot a match with 



414 APPENDIX. 

Mr. Paine, whom I challenged, in which my score 
was 87 out of 100, besides killing seven more 
pigeons that fell out of bounds. 

Paine's score was 86. 

Paine challenged me the same year, and we met at 
Dexter Park, Chicago, with the following result : 

Bogardus, 91. 

Paine, 89. 

In 1872 1 shot with Kleinman, at Dexter Park, 
my score being 93 to Klein man's 89. 

Kleinman then challenged me, to be again beaten. 

Next followed my match with Tinker, of Rhode 
Island, in 1873, at Dexter Park, when 1 came out 
87 to Tinker's 85. 

Having held the badge over two years it now be- 
came my property, but, under the rules, I put it up 
again, and, accepting a challenge from Mr. Klein, 
man, we shot at Joliet, 111., when 1 again won. 

Meeting King at Chicago, 1 shot for $1,000 a side, 
single birds, fifty each, twenty-one yards rise, and 
killed 50, King getting 41. 

Double birds, 1 got 85, and King 75 out of 100, 
at twenty-one yards rise. 

At Dexter Park 1 undertook a match against 
time, viz. : to kill 500 pigeons in ten hours and 
forty-five minutes, with one gun, and load my own 
gun. 1 accomplished it in eight hours and forty- 
eight minutes, shooting an old-fashioned muzzle- 
loader, and thousands of dollars were wagered that 
the feat could not be accomplished. 

Shooting a match to kill 100 birds in 100 con- 



APPENDIX. 415 

secutive shots, load as I please. 1 accomplished it at 
Dexter Park. 

At Jerseyville, ill., to kill 50 birds in eight min- 
utes, I killed 53 out of 54 in fom- minutes and forty- 
five seconds. 

In a match at Stamford, Conn., to kill 38 out of 
50 birds, two traps, forty yards apart, to be pulled 
at same time, and to stand between traps, 1 killed 
38 out of 42, the birds being found by Paine, who 
trapped against me. 

In match of same kind at Omaha, 1 killed 39 out 
of 44 shots. 

In a sweepstakes, the same day, I killed an aggre- 
gate of 49 out of 50, shooting at single and double 
birds, fifteen pair double, killing all. 

1 issued a challenge in the Chicago Tribune to 
any man in America, to shoot a pigeon match, fifty 
single and fifty double rises, for from $500 to $5,000 
a side, which was not accepted. 

1 also issued a great many other challenges which 
were never accepted, even when 1 offered, in some 
of them, to give one or two yards the advantage. 

Again in the Chicago Tribune 1 challenged any man 
in America to shoot prairie-chickens against me in the 
field, for one or two weeks, on the same ground, for 
a stake of $100 to |500 a side, the man killing the 
greater number to take the stakes and all the game. 
Through the Turf, Field and Farm 1 challenged 
all comers for field and pigeon shooting, the fields 
being in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, or Kansas, and 
the winning man to take all game and stakes. 



416 APPENDIX. 

Again, I challenged any man to shoot a pigeon 
match, one hundred single and fifty double rises, for 
stakes of from $1,000 to $2,000 a side, birds to be 
put into one basket, and trap and handle out of same 
lot of birds. 

None of these challenges were accepted, nor was 
my bet taken, $100 against $500, that 1 could kill 
one Imndred snipe in the field, in succession, with- 
out a miss. 

Now as to my work in England, when, after my 
shooting in 1875, it was claimed that I had not shot 
against their best men. 

These assertions occasioned my return to England 
in 1878, and then it was that 1 challenged all crack 
shots in the world. 

This challenge was accepted by Mr. Cholmondeley 
Pennell, whom 1 did not find as hard to beat as 1 
did to pronounce his Christian name. 

This match was for $3,000 and a silver cup, and 
the latter 1 now have at my home in Elkhart, Illinois. 

Captain Shelley, of the army, and a man who 
stood at the head of crack shots, next met me for 
$1,000 a side, and 1 bagged his $1,000 by making 84 
out of 100 splendid birds, and which is the best 
score ever made in England at that kind of shooting. 

After Captain Shelley they put to the front Mr. 
Aubrey Coventry, who had won a gold cup and the 
English championship as the best average shot. 

In this match 1 scored 79 out of 100, and the 
stakes were $5,000, which went into my pocket, 
while thousands of pounds changed hands on the re- 



APPENDIX. 417 

suit, for Englishmen will back heavily their best 
men. And here let me say, in one word, that, upon 
the old saying, *' Take a man as you find him," I 
found English sportsmen gentlemen to the manner 
born, true as steel, and most sportsmanlike and fair 
in all their dealings — even in defeat. 

1 shot also many other matches, too numerous to 
give details of here, in all of which 1 was victorious, 
excepting in one case, where 1 suffered defeat ; but 
my challenge to my victor immediately after, when 
1 offered to bet two to one upon my success in a sec- 
ond match, was declined with thanks. 

In pigeon-shooting 1 have made the highest records 
that have ever been made in the world, and there 
are the general odds now offered, of a hundred dol- 
lars to ten, that they cannot be equalled by any one. 

Let me also say that at Brighton Beach, Coney 
Island, July 2, 1880, at thirty yards, from five 
ground-traps, 1 killed 99 birds out of 100, single. 

At Howell, Mich., 1880, I got 93 out of 100. 

At Lincoln, 111., 1 broke 300 glass balls in suc- 
cession. 

At Bradford, Pa., 1 broke 990 glass balls out of 
1,000. 

In New York City, loading my own gun, and 
changing barrels every one hundred shots, 1 broke 
1,000 glass balls in one hour, one minute, and fifty- 
four seconds. 

In Agricultural Hall, London, using three guns, 
two traps, and at fifteen yards, I broke 1,000 glass 
balls in one hour, six minutes, and fifty -nine seconds. 



418 APPENDIX. 

In New York I accomplished the greatest feat of 
my life, as far as endurance, rapid shooting, and 
accuracy were concerned, for I broke 5,500 glass 
balls in seven hours, nineteen minutes, and two sec- 
onds, out of 5,854, loading my own gun and chang- 
ing barrels about every fifty shots. 

After this match I was laid up for several days 
with a lame arm that was most painful, an aching 
head, and could realize fully the work 1 had accom- 
plished, and which was a feat of endurance that 
many prominent New York physicians who were 
present asserted could not be done, as the physical and 
nervous system of man could not stand the strain. 

But I could go on ad infinitum taking up your 
valuable space with matches that I have won, and 
upon which 1 rest my claim to the name of '* Cham- 
pion Shot of the World." 

The medals, badges, and cups which 1 have won, 
both in England and America, have not had wrest- 
ed from me, and consequently hold to-day when 
1 retire from the shooting arena, as it has long been 
my intention to do, upon reaching my half a hun- 
dred years of life. 

When appearing in public, in my shooting acts, 1 
wear these badges, and have my cups at hand, that 
all may be seen to be bona fide and just what they 
are represented to be in every particular, and which 
were won as follows : 

Ist. The old "Rhode Island Badge," for Ameri- 
can Championship, won at Fleetwood Park, N. Y,, 
May 23, 1871. 



APPENDIX. 419 

2d. The *' Lorillard Medal," for pigeon-shooting 
championship for five traps, won at Stamford, Conn., 
October 4, 1874. 

3d. The *' Championship Medal of the World," 
won at Welsh Harp, Hendon, England, August 7, 
1875. 

4th. '* Championship Glass- Ball Medal," won at 
Deerfoot Park, N. Y., in the Fall of 1877. 

5th. Silver gold-lined vase, worth |500, for 
Championship of England, won June 20, 1878, at 
London Gun Club Grounds. 

6th. Silver goblet, |250 value, won at Huiling- 
ham Gun Club Grounds, England, the only public 
match ever shot on these grounds, July 23, 1878. 

7th. A Maltese cross badge of gold, won in the 
Coventry Match, England. This 1 prize above all 
others. 

Upon the 19th day of last September 1 was fifty 
years of age, and, to keep to my determination, 1 
issued on October 20 the challenge, addressed to 
one person in particular, and open to all, and which 
the American Field published, for 1 was not willing 
to retire from '^ match shooting " without giving all 
who called themselves champions a fair opportunity 
to capture from me the honors 1 had won. 

That challenge has now been published five weeks, 
holding it open one week over the month required 
for answer, and, no response having come to it, I 
hereby publicly withdraw, with my medals, badges, 
and cups, from the championship, and leave the field 
to others, with the hope that the best man may win 



420 APPENDIX. 

the coveted prize which proves that there is so 
much in a name. 

In writing this long letter 1 have been egotistical, 
for the subject called for egotism ; but my claims 1 
have placed before the public as modestly as it is in 
my power to do so, and by the public 1 am to be 
judged as to whether 1 have assumed a title to which 
1 have no right, or one that I have conscientiously 
won after long years of arduous work, worry, and 
painstaking. 

In conclusion, let me add that, certainly expecting 
to have my challenge accepted by some of the noted 
shots, 1 secured through William Read & Sons, of 
Boston, Massachusetts, agents for W. & C. Scott & 
Son, of London, England, a shotgun for this special 
match, and no better piece did man ever hold in his 
hand than 1 have found that gun to be, for it is per- 
fect throughout, stock and barrel, having two sets 
of barrels, and weighing seven pounds one and a 
quarter ounces. 

But as 1 have not been forced to use it, my retir- 
ing challenge to defend the championship to the 
last remaining unanswered, it will serve me well in 
the spring, when, as a partner of the Hon. W. F. 
Cody— Buffalo Bill— in the "Buffalo Bill Wild West 
Show," 1 go on the road to do my '^shooting acts," 
and will be accompanied by my four sons, aged re- 
spectively eighteen, thirteen, eleven, and eight years, 
and than whom no better marksmen of their ages 
live, as can be tested by any one who cares to chal- 
lenge them to prove my words, while my oldest son, 



APPENDIX. 421 

of eighteen, will meet any adversary of any age, 
with shotgun or rifle, as he also wears championship 
rifle badges for glass-ball shooting. 

Thanking the American Field for its many favors, 
and regretting to occupy so much of its valuable 
space, I am, with respect. 

Captain A. H. Bogardus. 



4r'2'2 APPENDIX. 



BEST SCORES ON RECORD THE 
WORLD OYER. 

MATCHES. 

99 birds out of 100, single, A. H. Bogardus, 30 
yards, 80 yards' fall, from five ground-traps, Ij^ 
oz. shot, 10 bore, 10 lb. 6 oz. gun, English rules, 
Brighton Beach, Coney Island, July 2, 1880. 

93 birds out of 100, A. H. Bogardus, 30 yards 
rise, ground-traps, English rules, Howell, Mich., 
August, 1880. 

. 300 glass balls broken in succession, A. H. Bo- 
gardus, using a shotgun, Lincoln, 111., July 4, 1877. 

990 glass balls broken out of 1 ,000 shot at, A. H. 
Bogardus, 10 lb. shotgun, 1^ oz. No. 8 shot, 3 
traps, 14 yards, Bradford, Pa., Nov. 20, 1879. 

1,000 glass balls broken in 1 hour, 1 minute, 54 
seconds, A. H. Bogardus, using 10 lb. gun, two sets 
of barrels, one 10 gauge, with 1^ oz. shot, and one 
12 gauge, 1 oz. shot — loading himself and changing 
barrels at end of every hundred — 15 yards, two 
traps, twelve feet apart. New York City, Dec. 20, 
1879. 

1,000 glass balls broken in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 59 
seconds, A. H. Bogardus^ using three guns, one 10 
gauge, weighing 10 lbs., using 1 1^ oz. shot ; one 12 




THE LORILLARD BADGE. 




The Champion MedaL 



APPENDIX. 423 

gauge, 71^ lbs,, 1 oz.; and one 20 gauge, 5^ lbs., 
^ oz., two traps, 15 yards. Agricultural Hall, Lon- 
don, England, June 26, 1878. 

5,500 glass balls broken in 7 hours, 19 minutes, 
2 seconds, out of 5,854 shot at, A. H. Bogardus, 
using 10 lb. gun, two sets of barrels, one 10 gauge, 
with l}i oz. shot, and one 12 gauge, 1 oz. shot, 15 
yards, two traps, twelve feet apart, loading his own 
gun, and changing barrels about 54 times. He 
broke 1 ,500 balls in 1 hour, 37 minutes, 20 seconds ; 
2,000 in 2 hours, 14 minutes, 43 seconds ; 3,000 
in 3 hours, 34 minutes, 40 seconds ; 3,500 in 4 
hours, 10 minutes, 16 seconds; 4,000 in 4 hours, 
48 minutes, 43 seconds ; 4,500 in 5 hours, 32 
minutes, 45 seconds ; and 5,000 in 6 hours, 22 
minutes, 30 seconds ; missed 35 in the first thou- 
sand, 47 in the second, 37 in third, 50 in the fourth, 
87 in the fifth, and 98 in the last 500. New York 
City, December 20, 1879. 

Between Bogardus and Rimell at New York, 
July 3, 1880. 

The full score follows : 

Bogardus— 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 
11111 11111 11111 11111 10111 11111 11111 
11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 
mil— Total, 100; killed, 99 ; missed, 1, 



424 APPENDIX. 

RiMELL— 1110] 11111 11011 01011 01111 11111 

11111 mil 11011 11110 mil mil iioii 
OHIO mil mil mil inn iioii imo— 

Total, 100; killed, 88; missed, 12. 

incomers, 2. 

Referee — P. Kelly, Fountain Gun Club. Time, 
3 hours. 

ENGLISH SCORES. 

My trip to England, and the success which at- 
tended my matches on British soil, have induced 
me to incorporate some of my best scores which 
have not yet appeared in this book. 

Match for $3,000, between Capt. A. H. Bogardus 
and Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell, London Gun Club 
grounds, June 15, 1878, at 100 pigeons each, from 
5 traps, 30 yards' rise. Bogardus, 70 ; Pennell, 68. 

Return match for $2,000, between Capt. A. H. 
Bogardus and Mr. C. Pennell, Hurlingham grounds, 
July 23, 1878, 100 blue rocks each, from 5 traps, 
30 yards' rise. Bogardus, 71 ; Pennell, 09. 

Match for $1,000, between Capt. A. H. Bogardus 
and Mr. G. BouUon, Birmingham, August 3, 1878, 
50 small birds, from 5 traps, 30 yards' rise. Bo- 
gardus, 42; Boulton, 37. 

Match for $2,000, between ('apt. A. H. Bogardus 




SILVER GOBLET, 
Won by Captain Bogardus, July 23, 1878, at the Hurlingliam 
Guu Club Grouuds, Loudon, England, in a return match with 
Mr. Cholmondelej Pennell, 




INSCRIPTION ON URN. 

" International Pigeon Match for $3,000, bet-ween Mr. Chol- 
mondeley Pennell and Captain A. H. Bogardns, at the London 
Gun Chib Grounds, London, England, June 28, 1878, 100 birds 
each, English rules. Won by Captain Bogardns." 



APPENDIX. 425 

and Capt. Shelley, London-Club grounds, July 29, 
1878, 100 pigeons each, from 5 traps. 30 yards' 
rise. Bogardus, 84; Shelley, 64. 

This is the best score ever made at that distance 
in England. 

Match for $5,000, between Capt. A. H. Bogardus 
and Aubrey Coventry, Polo Club grounds, Brighton, 
Tuesday, August 6, 1878, 100 birds each, 30 yards' 
rise. Bogardus, 79 ; Coventry, 78. 

This match was the greatest ever shot in En- 
gland, over one hundred thousand dollars changing 
hands on the result. 



42G APPENDIX. 



HOW GUNS ARE MADE. 

In chapter second of a former edition of this 
work, as well as in this edition, there are a few re- 
marks concerning the making of guns. Since the 
last edition, however, I have become convinced that 
a few words on that subject would be decidedly ac- 
ceptable, and that my fellow-sportsmen would be as 
much interested in reading of, as 1 was in visiting, 
the Premier Works of W. & C. Scott & Sons, 
Birmingham, England. 

1 have for some time been the fortunate owner of 
one of their guns, and was most desirous of seeing 
the process of manufacture, and am much indebted 
to Mr. W. M. Scott, the junior partner of the firm, 
for his ready and kindly manner of acceding to my 
wish, and for the very interesting way in which he 
explained to me the various branches of this inte- 
resting mechanical art. Mr. W. M. Scott, being 
himself a practical gunmaker, rendered his remarks 
the more valuable, and 1 had little or no difficulty, 
under his guidance, in making myself, to some ex- 
tent at least, conversant with the various processes 
through which the materials pass that ultimately 
issue in that — to me most fascinating article — 



APPENDIX. 



427 



a best breech-loader. Thinking my readers might 
feel an interest with myself in the subject, 1 have 
copied a few notes from my memoranda. 1 would 
observe that I ceased to wonder at the beauty and 
quality of Messrs. W. & C. Scott & Sons' work- 
manship when 1 beheld the various medals and cer- 
tificates which adorn the walls of their offices, re- 
ceived by the junior members of the firm in compe- 
tition at local Government schools of art, and from 
the art department of the South Kensington Museum, 
which show that they have successfully and usefully 
applied their knowledge of art to the purposes of 
their trade. Very little is really known by the 
sporting public of the process of gun-barrel making, 
of the materials used, and the mode of manipulation. 
For the benefit of the uninitiated, 1 submit the fol- 
lowing : 

In the manufacture of gun-barrel iron, whether 
Damascus or steel, the great secret of success de- 
pends on the careful selection of the scraps of which 
it is to be made up and the regulation of the heat 
of the furnace in which it is made. The scrap-iron, 
which is purchased by the makers, is placed in a 
"shaking" barrel to scour and brighten. It is then 
carefully sorted over by women experienced in the 
art ; and it often happens that out of a ton of such 



428 APPENDIX. 

scraps not more than a hundred-weight is of any 
service for best barrels. For many years the prin- 
cipal portion of gun-iron was made from old chains 
that had been in use for many years, the exposure 
and rust of time leaving only the best nature of the 
iron remaining. 

The steel used in Damascus is made out of old 
coach-springs only, for which itinerant dealers 
search the country, and supply the makers with 
this quality of steel. To manufacture Damascus 
iron, of which best barrels are made, the scrap- 
iron, having been cut into small pieces, selected 
and weighed, is thrown into a furnace, the heat 
of which passes round and over the top. The 
small pieces, when in a state of fusion, are work- 
ed up, or scraped together with an iron rod into 
a ball, being turned or rolled about by the fur- 
nace-man with the iron rod through a small 
opening in the intensely hot furnace, to collect 
any scrap that may lie on the furnace bottom, 
and when of sufficient heat, it is brought out, 
or rather drawn along the furnace floor to the 
hammer, to consolidate the " bloom " and billet 
it down into square bars. It is then heated 
and 1 oiled down into flat plates. The steel 
that is used in the making of Damascus iron, 



APPENDIX. 429 

being first cut up under powerful shears, under- 
goes the same process as the iron to bring it 
down to flat plates. These flat plates, both of 
iron and steel, are cut about twelve inches long 
by six inches wide and one- fourth inch thick, 
and plate upon plate of steel and iron alternate- 
ly are piled to the number of twenty -four to 
thirty plates. These piles are heated and ham- 
mered together under a five-ton hammer to con- 
solidate the slab, which process requires great 
care, so as not to displace the layers', but keep 
them like the leaves of a book, or the figure 
would be spoiled. In this state it is rolled 
down to the required size — from five-eighths to 
one-fourth inch square rods, according to the size 
of the iron required for the gun-barrels. Where 
extra good quality is required both steel and 
iron will undergo this process two or three times, 
being cut up and reworked over and over again 
— the greater amount of workings the finer the 
texture of iron obtained. Some idea of the value 
of labor expended upon gun-iron may be formed 
when it is known that in the above state it is 
worth £70 to £80 per ton. 

The production of Damascus figure depends 
upon the diflferent layers of iron and steel alter- 



430 APPENDIX. 

nating, the dark marks being the iron, the bright 
marks the steel. The Belgian Damascus, till of 
late, contained no steel at all, but was made up 
of different-colored iron, lighter or darker accord- 
ing to the nature of the stone from which it was 
first obtained. 

Laminated steel and silver steel are much of 
the same nature and quality, and differ only in 
the mode of working, being composed of scraps 
of various quality and an assortment of mild 
steel cut up with an addition of best stub-iron. 
These are balled in a furnace, rolled into strips, 
recut, and worked over several times, and piled 
or balled according to the methods of the various 
makers; and when this steel is finely wrought l^he 
best barrels in the world are made out of it. 
The iron thus obtained, whether laminated steel 
or Damascus, undergoes much the same process 
in the hands of the barrel- welder, who proceeds 
to prepare his iron by cutting off four pieces 
each of about five or six feet in length for a pair 
of fore-ends, and four other pieces each of two 
to three feet for the breech-ends of a pair of 
barrels. He then heats them to the required 
temperature and twists each rod by the revolu- 
tions of the wheels of a " twisting-machine," which 



APPENDIX, 431 

is somewhat like the head of a lathe. The fibres 
or layers that were longitudinal are transversed, 
and now resemble the strands of a rope, the rods 
having been twisted one to the right and the 
other to the left. This is a most severe test, 
and demonstrates the quality of the metal ; for, 
should the iron be unsound or faulty, the strain 
would break the fibre and destroy the rod. 
Should it pass this ordeal, the welder places each 
right and left hand piece together, and then has 
them rolled down, elongating the fibre and pro- 
ducing that fine curl which is the distinguishing 
mark of Damascus, or that wavy figure which is 
the distinguishing mark of laminated steel. After 
his strips are rolled some five-eighths of an inch 
wide, and of varying gauge and thickness, they 
are coiled round a mandrel into a spiral form ; 
the fore-part is then, while in this coil or ribbon 
shape, welded on stamps placed inside the tube, 
and are thus forged together by the hammer of 
the striking-men. The breech-end or breech- 
piece undergoes the same process, and is then 
welded on to the fore-part, and so is formed the 
complete barrel. The welder of best barrels 
must be a first-class workman, as any inequality 
in, or any imperfection of, the weld would spoil 



432 APPENDIX. 

his barrels and render it necessary to go over 
again all the various processes before named. 

Having now produced the complete barrel, as 
far as materials and welding are concerned, the 
next thing is to shape it both inside and outside. 
in order to do this the barrel is first taken to 
the borer, and in his hands goes through the 
process called "rough boring." The barrel is 
fixed in a lathe, and the boring-bit revolves at a 
great speed ; the barrel is so placed that it can 
be pushed up by means of levers towards the 
bit. The bits are changed and are graduated in 
size, until the calibre is brought up to the re- 
quired size. When the process of rough boring 
is finished the barrel is passed on to fine boring. 
This is done by a four-sided bit, but, in order to 
produce fineness, only two edges are allowed to 
cut, and this is done by using a half-round 
wooden splint placed on one side of the square 
bit, so destroying the cutting power of two of 
its edges. The revolving speed of the fine-boring 
tool is considerably less than that of rough bor- 
ing. The barrel is carried up to the boring-bit 
by means of a weight attached to chains fastened 
to the carrier, on which the barrel is fixed. The 
fineness and evenness of the boring is greatly 



APPENDIX. 433 

owing to the regularity with which the barrel 
travels towards the bit. 

When the bore approaches within a few thou- 
sandths of an inch of the size required, the barrel 
is then "set" or straightened, which none but a 
practised hand and eye can do. The least irreg- 
ularity or deflection of the bore from a true line 
would by such an one be detected, and his duty 
is to set those barrels requiring it with a wood- 
en mallet. The barrel, being now perfectly 
straight, is placed in a lathe and turned on the 
outside at different places to gauges, and is then 
handed over to 'the grinder, who, after placing 
mandrels in the breech and muzzle ends, pro- 
ceeds to grind on a revolving stone the barrels 
to the graduated gauge-marks before alluded to. 
After this the barrel is again submitted to the 
''setter," and afterwards is "struck up'' or 
smoothed with files and sent to the " proof- 
house." The proof-house is an institution found- 
ed by act of Parliament for the protection of 
the public, and managed by a chairman, a per- 
manent proof-master, and fifteen members of the 
trade, called guardians, who are elected by the 
trade. At this institution all gun-barrels are sub- 
jected to two very severe tests with certain 



434 APPENDIX. 

stipulated charges. The first proof is to test 
the barrels only, the second (in the case of 
breech-loaders) is to test the strength ot the con- 
nection between the barrels and the breech- 
action. The charge in both cases is increas- 
ed in proportion to the size of the bore. 
Should any flaw be discovered after either proof, 
either in the barrels or the action, the authori- 
ties would refuse to mark the same, and as no 
gun may be sold without the necessary proof- 
stamps, under a heavy penalty, the public are 
thereby guaranteed, at any rate, a safe article. 

After the barrels are passed by • the proof-mas- 
ter they are handed to the barrel-filer, who joints 
the tubes, fits and brazes in the lump which car- 
ries and forms part of the action, fits on the ribs, 
top and bottom, which are soft-soldered (not 
brazed) — a way, in my opinion, infinitely superior 
to the Belgian plan of brazing or hand-soldering, 
in which latter process it is necessary to heat 
the whole length of the barrels in order that the 
brass may run, which heating, 1 am informed, 
tends to deteriorate, by softening, the quality of 
the barrels. 

After the ba,rrels have been thus prepared — ^.e,, 
with the ribs and lump fitted — they are handed to 



APPENDIX. 435 

the action-filer. I am constrained here to remark 
that Messrs. W. & C. Scott & Sons' mode of 
manufacture is peculiar. Instead of their work- 
men being confined to a certain routine, as if they 
were mere machines, every skilled man — and there 
are many in their employ — is allowed within cer- 
tain limits to put forth his individual genius in 
the form and finish of his work. Jn the actionary 
department alone, there are from forty to fifty 
men whom 1 saw all engaged on first-class work. 
Amongst these Mr. Wm. M. Scott moves as the 
master-spirit, as he does, indeed, throughout the 
whole of the works. These men may be seen 
filing and fitting by hand-labor the most impor- 
tant parts of a gun — viz., that of the breech-action 
and its intricate connections. The machinery em- 
ployed in this department .is used principally in 
roughing out the breech-action and chambering 
and boring the barrels. 1 was informed that first- 
class hand-labor is preferable to machine- work, 
both as regards accuracy of fitting and excellence 
of finish. No appliance of machinery can possi- 
bly give the variety of sizes, styles, and weights 
that can be produced by hand-labor, and which 
are absolutely necessary to meet the different re- 
(^uirements of sportsmen. And here in Birming- 



436 APPENDIX. 

ham, the seat and centre of the English gun-trade, 
1 found that first-class hands are educated to a per- 
fection that is not thought of elsewhere. 

When the action has been fitted and the locks 
let in, the gun is sent for second and final proof. 
1 was, indeed, very pleased with the stocking and 
finishing departments, where the guns are mount- 
ed to any size, form, or crook required by the 
sportsman who is to use them. It was surprising to 
see the care bestowed in letting the mountings 
into the wood work. In doing this the under and 
side parts of the iron- work are blackened over an 
oil-lamp until they are completely covered, and 
the process of easing is continued carefully, by 
little and little, until the black is shown equally 
on all the wood-bearing parts, so that every in- 
dividual part has a solid and secure bearing, and 
would almost stay in its plac« without the aid of 
screws. The next stage is that of fitting the ham- 
mers, and these, tastefully designed and properly 
fitted, give great beauty to the outline. And in 
all these various stages the taste of the workmen 
is governed and guided by a member of the firm, 
all of whom are practical mechanics. In the pol- 
ishing department the mountings are finely fin- 
ished and burnished and prepared for the engrav^ 



APPENDIX. 437 

er's art. Here, in one engraver's shop, 1 saw ten 
or twelve of these artists all engaged in produc- 
ing those beautiful scrolls so much admired in 
Messrs. Scott's guns. After the engraving, the 
lockplates, hammers, breech-actions, and other 
parts are case-hardened. The parts to be case- 
hardened are placed in a stout iron pan, which is 
then filled up with bone-dust — the work being en- 
tirely separated by layers of bone-dust; the pan 
is then put into a large, clear fire for upwards of 
an hour. The contents of the pan are then emp- 
tied into a tub of cold water. This is termed 
case-hardening, and imparts the varied hue seen 
in the iron- work of a best gun. 

The finishing and putting together of all the 
parts of a fine gun is done by specially trained 
workmen, who ease the barrels with the breech- 
action, as the hardening causes the metal slightly 
to shrink. The regulation of the locks, so as to 
produce that nice, smooth, yet decisive, action so 
much admired, is also done by the trained finisher. 

Messrs. Scott have at their factory a set of tar- 
gets, with a range of forty to fifty yards, at which 
all their premier and second quality guns are test- 
ed, and no gun is passed until it comes up in this 
respect also to the requisite standard. 1 tried 



438 APPENDIX. 

my own gun at this range — one of their own 
make, the one 1 have been shooting with in Eng- 
land, and which 1 purchased of Messrs. Read & 
Sons, Boston — and 1 was surprised at the extreme 
closeness of the pattern at forty yards. With this 
same gun 1 hold the American Championship, and 
all my now celebrated matches in England were 
shot with it, and 1 shall always feel proud of the 
possession of such a magnificent weapon. Al- 
though preferring for myself such a close shoot- 
er, 1 yet have the impression that the majority 
of American sportsmen will bag more game with 
a moderate than with a full choke-bored gun. 

Judging from what 1 saw at the establishment 
of Messrs. Scott, 1 am disposed to believe that 
the traditional excellence of English guns will be 
maintained so long as hand-labor is encouraged, 
aided by technical instiuction, now so much de- 
sired by and so liberally supplied to the artisans 
of Birmingham. This is the only place in Eng- 
land where gun-barrels are welded, and here, too, 
the best of forgings for mounting actions are made, 
as also the very best gun-locks. The majority of the 
London makers have their guns made here, and en- 
graved with their own names. 



APPENDIX. 439 



THE TRAP-SHOOTING OF TO-DAY. 

But time moves rapidly, aud brings many 
changes with it. To-day, 1890, I must admit that 
much or all tlurt I said and wrote about glass-ball 
shooting ten years ago is no longer of interest or 
value, and that recent developments in target man- 
ufacture have even affected my last public utter- 
ance on that subject, in which I admitted that 
the clay pigeon surpassed the glass l)all. I may 
fairly claim to have started the sport of shooting 
inanimate targets, but I must say I never could 
have dreamed the proportions it was bound to 
reach. To-day there are far more inanimates shot 
than live birds. 

I do not know that I need say much about 
other forms of the glass ball, for they too have 
passed into disuse. There was Ira Paine 's feather- 
filled glass ball, so arranged that a puff of feathers 
flew out when the ball broke. That was not a 
bad idea, though it never attained much popu- 
larity. But Ira Paine is dead now, and I should 
not wish even to speak adversely of one of his 
ideas. Also there was the compound ball, for which 
the chief advantage claimed was that the frag- 



440 APPENDIX. 

ments would dissolve and pass into the ground 
under the action of the weather. Of this, and of 
the old gyro pigeon, I do not need say inueh to- 
day, for they are both obsolete targets. 

Tho Ligowsky clay pigeon, about 1878, marked 
the first dawn of the modern day of artificial tar- 
gets. It was a hard, puzzling l)ird, and I well 
remember what comment it caused among the 
shooters. I, however, had no trouble in l)reaking 
it with the gun and charges 1 used. This bird 
is built with a tongue, and even to-day it is 
esteemed as one of the best, so far as a test of 
skill is concerned. 

The American clay bird is about as hard to 
break as the Ligowsky, and is made of the same 
material, but is built without any tongue. These 
birds are red and hard, of burnt clay, and look 
something like thin, saucer-shaped bricks. These 
and the Ligowskys are used to-day, but do not 
hold the main field of tournament and sweepstakt; 
shooting. Even they seem to have had their day, 
useful as they were. 

When Fred Kimball invented the Peoria Black- 
bird, made of pitch and ashes, he got a bird that 
flew strong and even, and yet broke at the touch 
of shot. This was the best target yet made at that 



APPENDIX. 441 

time, and the foundation of the cliief targets now 
in use. The principle of the carrier pivoted to tlie 
arm of the trap was one which was apparently fol- 
lowed in other tra[)s put on the market by subse- 
quent companies, and in the present year, singular 
to relate, the Peoria Target Co. has won suits 
which enable it to enjoin nearly the whole field of 
inanimate target and trap makers from turning out 
their traps unless they pay a royalty. This will 
give the Peoria Ijird a lease of life of which, 
through lack of pushing, it Avas in serious need 
among the target clubs of the country. 

To-day we hardly ever hear of the Nashville 
Pigeon. This bird Avas sold out to the Cleveland 
Target Co., Avho now turn out the Bluerock bird, 
very Avidely known all over the country. The Blue- 
rock is made of clay and pitch. It is turned out 
by machinery, very rapidly, and the process of its 
manufacture is a very simple ]>ut interesting one. 

Of the Lockport Bat, a tongued bird, of the 
Niagara Bird, and of the Decatur Redbird, I do 
not know that I need say much to-day but to men- 
tion them. The Redbird was much like the Stand- 
ard target of to-day, and the Standard bird is quite 
like the Bluerock, except that it is made of plaster 
of Paris and pitch, instead of clay and pitch. 



442 APPENDIX. 

Tlie Kingbird is a great deal like the Ke^'stone 
l)ird. The latter is a target very widely known 
and a good flyer and breaker. Almost all of these 
birds are much alike. It is only some little feature 
of the trap, or something of that, sort, which must 
push one above the other. The Keystone is a cor- 
rugated bird, and that makes it break the easier. 
In very warm weatlier, all of these birds that have 
pitch in them are apt to be tougher and harder to 
break. I have seen them melt and sog down in 
the crown, and then shot might be sent through 
them without breaking them. 

One or two tin birds, with an arrangement of a 
tin tongue which drops out of a spring clamp Avhen 
the birds are hit, have been put on the market. 
These occupy a field of their own, and at this date 
have not become general in use at the tournaments, 
though good and useful in their way. These go to 
show the great interest taken in the manufacture of 
inanimate targets and the ingenuity applied to their 
construction. 

The use of the different sorts of traps and birds 
will be familiar to a great many of my readers, and 
I will not weary them by a description. Certainly 
American push and inventiveness were never better 
exemplified than in the growth and perfection of 



APPENDIX. 443 

the modem inanimate targets. What tlie next de- 
velopment will be I do not know, but this year I 
learn that an Ohio inventor, not satisfied with the 
rapidity of the present tournament shooting, al- 
though that may attain the enormous figure of 
10,000 targets a day shot at in an average-sized 
tournament, has invented an automatic loading trap, 
which will throw 250 targets without re-loading. 
With a trap or two of that kind — and I do not 
believe their expense will long stand in the way — 
even more simplicity, system and rapidity will be 
introduced into our admirable tournaments of to- 
day. 

Change has been the watchword of the day of 
modern targets, and change in the future will be a 
necessity to keep up interest in this style of shoot- 
ing, which has of late shown signs of waning. But 
if the shooter do not fall to trap-shooting, what 
shall he do? As I look around me to-day, I see a 
havoc among the birds of the field which puts it 
beyond the power of men ever again to enjoy 
steady shooting in the field. 

The shooting of inanimate targets has never had 
much growth in England. In this country I have, 
I presume, done much to popularize it by the ex- 
hibitions given by myself and my boys. Eugene 



444 APPENDIX. 

Bogardus, my oldest boy, upon whom T put much 
reliance, is dead. My boy Henry shoots with me 
now, and is a plucky and accurate shot, a good 
solid chunk of a boy, and bids fair to be a hard 
one to beat. 

I will give below, besides the Hurlingham and the 
Gun Club rules, which are the most important ones 
governing live-bird contests, also the new^ American 
rules published by the American Shooting Associa- 
tion, a strong corporation organized for the purpose 
of encouraging shooting at the trap, and the Key- 
stone rules, under wdiich the most rapid firing at 
inanimate targets has been attained. These four 
sets of rules are the most comprehensive and gen- 
eral of any now in use, although there are some 
State rules, such as the Illinois State rules, which 
modify one form or another of them in certain 
respects. 



TRAP-SHOOTING RULES. 

The several sets of rules here given are those 
most generally in force at the present time. 

L— THE HURLINGHAM CLUB RULES. 

1. The referee's decision shall be final. 

2. The gun must not be held to the shoulder 
until the shooter has called, " Pull." The butt 
must be clear below the arm-pit, otherwise the 
referee shall declare '* No bird." 

3. A miss-fire is no shot, provided the shooter 
has a cap or tube on the gun and it be cocked 
and loaded, or, in the case of a breech-loader, if 
the cartridge does not explode. 

4. If the shooter's gun miss fire with the first 
barrel and he use the second and miss, the bird is 
to be scored lost. 

5. If the miss- fire occurs with the second barrel, 
the shooter having failed to kill with his first, 



446 APPENDIX. 

he may claim another bird ; but he must fire off 
the first barrel with a cap on and a full charge 
of powder, or, in case of a breech-loader, with a 
blank cartridge, before tiring the second. And he 
must not pull both triggers at the same time. 

6. The shooter in a match or sweepstakes shall 
be at his shooting-mark at the expiration of two 
minutes from the last shot, unless in case of an 
accident, when the referee shall decide what time 
shall be allowed to remedy the accident. 

7. The shooter's feet shall be behind the shoot- 
ing-mark until after his gun is discharged. If, in 
the opinion of the referee, the shooter is balked 
by any antagonist or looker-on, or by the trap- 
per, whether by accident or otherwise, he may 
be allowed another bird. 

8. The shooter, when he is at his mark ready 
to shoot, shall give the caution, *' Are you ready ? " 
to the puller, and then call, "Pull." Should the 
trap be pulled without the word being given, the 
shooter may take the bird or not ; but if he fires, 
the bird must be deemed to be taken. 

9. if, on the trap being pulled, the bird does 
not rise, it is at the option of the shooter to 
take it or not ; if not, he must declare it by say- 
ing, *' No bird " ; but should he fire after de- 



APPENDIX. 447 

daring, it is not to be scored for or against 
him. 

10. Each bird must be recovered within the 
boundary, if required by any party interested, or 
it must be scored lost. 

11. If a bird that has been shot at perches or 
settles on the top of the fence, or on any part of 
the buildings higher than the fence, it is to be 
scored a lost bird. 

12. If a bird once out of the ground should re- 
turn and fall dead within the boundary, it must 
be scored a lost bird. 

13. If the shooter advances to the mark and 
orders the trap to be pulled, and does not shoot 
at the bird, or his gun is not properly loaded, 
or does not go off, owing to his own negligence, 
that bird is to be scored lost. 

14. Should a bird that has been shot at be 
flying away, and a bystander fires and brings the 
bird down within the boundary, the referee may, 
if satisfied that the bird would not have fallen by 
the gun of the shooter, order it to be scored a lost 
bird; or, if satisfied that the bird would have 
fallen, may order it to be scored a dead bird ; 
or, if in doubt on the subject, he may order the 
shooter to shoot at another bird. 



448 



APPENDIX. 



15. A bird shot on the ground with the first 
barrel is " No bird," but it may be shot on the 
ground with the second barrel, if it has been fired 
at with the first barrel while on the wing; but if 
the shooter misses with the first and discharges 
his second barrel it is to be accounted a lost 
bird in case of not falling within bounds. 

16. Only one person to be allowed to pick up 
the bird (or a dog, if the shooter will allow it). 
No instrument is to be used for this purpose. 
All birds must be gathered by the dog or trap- 
per, and no member shall have the right to 
gather his own bird, or to touch it with his 
hand or gun. 

17. in single shooting, if more than one bird 
is liberated, the shooter may call, " No bird," 
and claim another shot ; but if he shoots he 
must abide by the consequences. 

18. The shooter must not leave the shooting- 
mark under any pretence to follow up any bird 
that will not rise, nor may he return to his 
mark after he has once quitted it to fire his 
second barrel. 

19. In matches or in sweepstakes, when shot is 
limited, any shooter found to have in his gun more 
shot than is allowed, is to be at once disqualified. 



APPENDIX. 449 

20. Any shooter is compelled to unload his 
gun on being challenged; but, if the charge is 
found not to exceed the allowance, the challenger 
shall pay forthwith £1 to the shooter. 

21. None but members can shoot, except on the 
occasion of private matches. 

22. No wire cartridges or concentrators allow- 
ed, or other substance to be mixed with the 
shot. 

23. In all handicaps, sweepstakes, or matches, 
the standard bore of the gun is No 12. Members 
shooting with less to go in at the rate of half a 
yard for every bore less than 12 down to 16-bore. 
11 -bore guns to stand back half a yard from the 
handicap distance, and no guns over 11-bore al- 
lowed. 

24. The winner of a sweepstakes of the value 
of ten sovereigns, including his own stake, goes 
back two yai'ds; under that sum, one yard, pro- 
vided there be over five shooters. Members sav- 
ing or dividing in an advertised event will be 
handicapped accordingly. 

25. Should any member shoot at a distance 
nearer than that at which he is handicapped, it 
shall be scored " No bird." 

20. That for the future the charge of powder is 



450 APPENDIX. 

limited to four drams. Chilled shot and '* saw- 
dust" powder may be used. The weight of guns 
not to exceed 7 Ib^. 8 oz. Size of shot restricted 
to Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8. Charge of shot limited 
to lj{ oz. ^- .^ 

27. All muzzle-loaders shall be loaded with 
shot from the Club bowls. 

28. If any bird escapes through any opening in 
the paJing. it shall be a "■ No bird," if in the 
referee's opinion it could not have flown over 
the palings, but in no instance shall it be scored 
a dead bird. 

29. From the 1st of May the advertised events 
shall begin at three o'clock, unless otherwise noti- 
fied, and no shooter will be admitted after the 
end of the second round in any advertised event. 

30. No scouting allowed on the Club premises, 
and no pigeon to be shot at in the shooting-ground 
except by the shooter standing at his mark. 
Any one infringing this rule will be fined £1. 

RULES FOR DOUBLE RISES. 

1. In double shooting, when more than two 
traps are pulled, the shooter may call *' No birds," 
and claim two more ; but if he shoots he must 
abide by the consequences. 



APPENDIX. 



451 



2. If, on the traps being pulled, the birds do 
not rise, it is at the option of the shooter to take 
them or not. If not, he must declare by saying, 
"No birds." 

3. If, on the traps being pulled, one bird does 
not rise, he cannot demand another double rise ; 
but he must wait and take the bird when it flies. 

4. A bird shot on the ground, if the other biid 
is missed, is a lost bird ; but if the other bird is 
killed, the shooter may demand another two birds. 

5. W the shooter's gun misses fire with the first 
barrel, he may demand another two birds, but 
if he fires his second barrel he must abide by the 
consequences. Jf the miss-fire occurs with the 
second barrel, the shooter having killed with the 
first, he may demand another bird, but may only 
use one barrel ; if he missed with his first bar- 
rel. Rule 5 in single shooting will apply. 

A bird falling dead on the scoring-box is to be 
counted for the shooter. 

II.— LONDON GUN CLUB RULES. 

RULES IN SHOOTING. 

1. A miss-hre is no shot under any circum- 
stances. If the shooter miss fire with the first 



452 APPENDIX. 

barrel, and use the second and miss, tlie ])ird is to 
be scored lost. Tf he miss fire with the second 
barrel, he shall have another shot, but with the 
ordinary charge of powder and no shot in the first 
barrel. 

2. If the gun be locked, or not cocked, or not 
loaded, and the bird flies away, it is a " lost bird " ; 
if the stock or lock should break in the act of fir- 
ing, it is " no bird." 

3. If the trap is pulled without notice from the 
shooter, he has the option to. take the bird or 
not. 

4. The puller shall not pull the trap until the 
trapper and the dog are back in their places, even 
should the shooter call "pull." 

5. If, on the trap being pulled, the bird does 
not rise, the shooter to take it or not at his option; 
but if not, he must declare it by saying " No 
bird " before it is on the wing. If, however, the 
bird rises and settles before ' the shooter fires, it 
shall be at his option to refuse it or not. 

6. Sim fie Shooting.— li more than one bird be 
liberated, it is "no bird." 

7. In shooting at a bird, should both barrels go 
off at once and the bird be killed, it is "no bird"; 
if the bird escape, it is a "lost bird." 



APPENDIX. 453 

8. Double Shooting. — If more than two traps be 
pulled, they are "no birds." 

9. A bird to be scored good must be gathered 
by the dog or man without the aid of a ladder or 
any other instrument, and all birds not gathered in 
the ground, or gathered inside the Pavilion enclos- 
ure, having flown over the railings, to be scored 
lost. 

10. If a bird which has been shot perches or 
settles on the top of the fence, or on any of the 
buildings in the ground higher than the fence, it 
is to be scored a " lost bird." 

11. If a bird once out of the ground return and 
fall dead within the boundary, it must be scored a 
"lost bird." 

12. If the first barrel be fired whilst the bird is 
on the ground, should the bird be killed by either 
barrel, it is "no bird"; if missed, it is lost. It 
may be shot on the ground with the second barrel, 
if it has been fired at Avith the first barrel while 
on the wing. 

13. The shooter is bound at once to gather his 
bird, or depute some person so to do when called 
upon ; but in so doing he must not be assisted by 
any other person, or use any description of imple- 
ment. Should the shooter be in any way baffled 



454 APPENDIX. 

by his opponent, or by any other person or clog, he 
can claim another bird with the sanction of the 
Referee. 

14. The shooter having once left the mark after 
shooting at the bird, cannot shoot at it again under 
any circumstances. 

15. In matclies or in sweepstakes, any shooter 
found to have in his gun any more shot or powder 
than is allowed, to be at once disqualified. 

16. ^^ny shooter is compelled to unload his gun 
on being challenged ; but if the charge is found 
n()t to exceed the allowance, the challenger shall 
})ay =£1 to the shooter, which must be paid before 
he (the challenger) shoots again. 

17. Xone but members can shoot, except on the 
occasion of the open handicaps or by special per- 
mission of the Committee ; and no person shall be 
allowed to compete in either sweepstakes or matches 
except he ]je a member of the club, or qualified to 
become a member. 

1(S. Breech-loaders not to l)e loaded until the 
shooter is at tlu; mark, and the trapper has re- 
turned to his place. On leaving the mark, should 
a cartridge not have been discharged, it is to be re- 
moved before tlie shooter turns his face from the 
traps. 



APPENDIX. 455 

19. Xo wire cartridges allowed; nor is any bone- 
dust or other substance to be mixed with the shot. 

20. Should any shooter shoot at a distance 
nearer than his proper distance, the bird, if killed, 
is "no bird"; if missed, a "lost bird"; or should 
he, by direction of the Referee or Scorer, shoot at 
any distance exceeding his proper handicap, the 
bird, if missed, shall be " no bird," and the shooter 
shall be allowed another, which, if killed, shall be 
scored. All bets made upon any shot under the 
al)ove-named circumstances shall be decided by tlie 
result of that particular shot, although the shooter 
may be directed to shoot again. 

21. IJ oz. of shot and 4 drachms of black pow- 
der, or its equivalent in any other description of 
gunpowder, is the maximum charge. In advertised 
handicaps the shooter is allowed to go in half a 
yard for every eighth of an ounc(^ of shot less than 
the maximum. 

22. In shooting for the principal advertised events, 
members can enter up to the end of the second 
round, unless it shall be within the kncnvledge of 
the Referee that any member proposing to enter has 
been on the ground during the first round, in which 
ease lit* should not be permitted to shoot after the 
Commeuceuieut of the second round ; f(»r all -jJier 



456 APPENDIX. 

sweepstakes entries must he made before the end of 
the first round; special sweepstakes excepted. No 
prize given by the CUib shall be shot for unless 
eight members compete. 

23. The sweepstakes preceding the chief event of 
the day, shall be divided by those shooters who 
may be in at the end of the round at three o'clock 
in equal proportions. 

24. In shooting * (Star) sweepstakes, three stars 
shall be the maximum allowed. 

25. In handicap sweepstakes, winners of under 
£10 go back one yard; <£10 and up to £20, two 
yards ; £20 and over, three yards. Unless a sweep 
be worth £5 the winner does not go back. For 
the advertised events members stand at their dis- 
tances in the handicap book. 

26. Distance of new members, twenty -seven 
yards. 

27. The handicap distances shall range from 
twenty-three to thirty-three yards. Any members 
winning £50 clear of his own stake to go back one 
yard till he arrives at thirty yards, and after that 
one yard for every £100 clear he wins. 

28. In large sweepstakes, if the money be over 
£50, there shall be two prizes ; if over £100, three 
prizes ; and over £200, four prizes, 



APPEXDIX, 4/57 

29. In even-distance shooting, should a winner 
win at or above his handicap distance, he shall he 
penalized for the day as well as in the handicap 
book. 

30. No shooting at birds thrown up, or other 
irregular practice with guns, shall be permitted on 
the ground at any time. 

31. Should two members agree to save stakes, 
and one of these divide with a third person, the 
member so dividing shall pay the full stake to the 
member who does not win or divide. 

32. In case of any division of stakes in adver- 
tised events, the amount of division is to be de- 
clared to the Referee, and the members dividing 
shall be penalized to the amount they receive. This 
rule not to apply to the saving of stakes, 

33. No member to be allowed to shoot in any 
sweepstakes or handicap, until he shall have paid 
the amount of his entry to the Scorer, and should 
he shoot without having paid his stake before firing 
his first shot, he will be excluded from taking 
further part in such competition. 

34. The deductions from all sweepstakes of the 
value of <£8 and upwards in the summer season, 
and £5 and upwards in the winter season, is 10 
per cent., to go to the funds of the Club. 



458 APPENDIX. 

35. No ffuns above 11-bore allowed. 

o 

36. Members shooting under an assumed name 
must have the same registered in a book by the 
Secretary. The charge for registration is £1 per 
annum. The Committee have power to allow any 
member to shoot under an assumed name, for any 
special reason ; this permission not to l)e accorded 
to a member more than tAvice in the season. 

The following fines will ha strictly enforced : 

1. No bet shall be made by any member who 
has been called up to shoot after passing the en- 
closure gate, even should he have been standing 
there previous to his name being called. Any mem- 
ber infringing this rule will be fined £5, which 
shall be paid l)efore he shoots again. 

2. Pointing a gun at any one, or firing a loaded 
<^nin without permission, except at the mark, <£5. 

3. Any person firing at a ])ird after it has passed 
the safety flags will be fined £5 and the lurd will 
be scored lost. 

RULES OF THE MEMBERS' <£100 CHALLENGE CUP. 

This cup must be Avon three times consecutively 
to become the property of the winner. The mini- 
mum number of shooters is three, and the entry 
=£10 each, l)ut the Committee have the option of 



APPENDIX. 459 

making the stakes £25 each when they consider 
it desirable. Distance thirty yards. 

RULES OF THE TUESDAY HANDICAP CUP, VALUE £50. 

This cup must be won twice consecutively, or 
four times in the season, to become the property 
of the winner. Ten per cent, is deducted every 
competition for the accumulative fund, until it be 
Avon. 

RULES OF THE MEMBERS' £50 WINTER CHALLENGE 
CUP. 

This cup must be won three times during the 
season, to become the property of a member. 



III.— AMERICAX 8H00TIXG ASSOCIATION RULES. 

(Rprisfd Jan wry 7t1i, 1890. J 
RULES FOR INANIMATE TARGET SHOOTING. 

Rule I. — Judges and Referee. S^c. 1. Two 
Judges and a Referee, or a Referee alone, shall be 
selected to judge. Sf-e. ;?. If the Judges cannot 
agree, the Referee shall decide, and his decision 
shall be final in all tournament or sweepstake shoot- 
ing. 'SVr. 3. In individual matches a Referee, 
Scorer and Puller may be agreed upon and named 
bv the contestants. 



460 APPENDIX. 

Rule 2. — Appeals. Sec. 1. In all matches other 
than tournament or sweepstake, appeals from the 
Referee's decision will be decided by the Associa- 
tion's Court of Appeals. Sec. 2. Any contestant 
making an appeal shall notify the Referee of his 
intention immediately, and shall hand such appeal 
to the Referee in writing within twenty-four hours, 
and shall send a copy of the same to the Associa- 
tion's office, in New York City, within ten days. 
The Referee shall forward his copy also, with a 
statement of the time of its receipt, together with 
any explanation he may care to make, within ten days. 

Rule 3. — Special Duties of Referee. The 
Referee shall see that the traps are properly set at 
the beginning of a match, and are kept in order to 
the finish. He shall endeavor to make the targets 
conform to the flight anil direction indicated in 
Rule 13. He shall test any trap upon application 
of a shooter at any time, by throwing a trial bird 
therefrom. He may at any time select one or more 
cartridges from those of a shooter at the score, and 
must do so when the shooter is challenged by a 
contestant, and he shall publicly test the same for 
proper loading ; if a cartridge is found to be im- 
properly loaded, the shooter shall suffer the penalty 
as provided for in Rule 17. 



APPENDIX. 461 

Rule 4. — Balk. If any contestant is balked or 
interfered with, or there is other similar reason why 
it should be done, the Keferee may allow another 
bird. 

Rule 5. — Shooter at the Score. In all con- 
tests the shooter must be at the score within three 
minutes after his name is called to shoot, or he 
forfeits his rights in the match. 

Rule 6. — Scorer. A Scorer shall be appointed 
by the management, whose score shall be the official 
one. All scoring shall be done with ink or indeli- 
ble pencil. The scoring of a lost bird shall be 
indicated by a 0, and of a dead bird by a 1. 

Rule 7. — Keeping the Score. Sec. 1. The call 
for a broken bird shall be "Dead bird," and the 
call for ^ missed bird shall be "Lost bird." Sec. 2. 
When two Judges and a Referee are serving, one 
of the eludges shall announce the result of each 
shot distinctly, and it shall be called back by the 
Scorer. If the second Judge disagree with the de- 
cision of the Judge calling, he shall announce it at 
once before another bird is thrown, and the Referee 
shall decide it. In the event of another bird being 
thrown before the Referee's decision, the bird so 
thrown shall be "No bird." [It is suggested, when 
feasible, the Judge shall call the shooter's name 



462 APPENDIX. 

or niiml3er when announcing tlie result of the 
shot.] 

Rule 8. — Broken Birds. A bird to be scored 
" Dead bird " must have a perceptible piece broken 
from it while in the air ; a " dusted " bird is not 
a T)roken bird. No bird shall be retrieved for shot 
marks. If a bird be broken by the trap, the 
shooter may claim another bird, as provided for in 
Rule 20 ; but if he shoots, the result must be 
scored. 

Rule 9. — Announcing the Score. At the close 
of each shooter's score the result must l^e an- 
nounced ; if claimed to be Avrong, the error, if any, 
must be corrected at once. 

Rule 10. — Screens. Either pits or screens, or 
both, may be used, but tlie screens must not be 
higher than is actually necessary to fully protect the 
trapper. 

Rule II. — Distances. All distances mentioned 
in these rules must be accurate measurement. 

Rule 12. — -Arrangement of Traps. All matches 
shall be shot from three or five traps, set level, live 
yards apart, in the segment of a circle (see Dia- 
grams A and C), or, in a straight line (see Diagrams 
B and D). AVlien in a segment <»f a circle, the 
radius of the circle shall be eii>liteen vards. In all 



APPENDIX. 

I 



463 



V 



tti 



y 



iS hooter^ score 

Diagram A. (See Riiles 12 and 13.) 

Note.— To get angles for bmU thrown from traps 1 and 3, measure 
six yards from trap No. 2 on line to shooter's score, to point marked 
"A"; lines drawi from this point across traps 1 and 3 will give 
proper direction of flight. 

cases, the shooter's score shall not be less from each 
trap than the rises provided for in Knle 15. The 
traps shall he numbered from Xo. 1 on the left to 



464 



APPENDIX. 



I 
I 
I 

I 
I 
I 
I 
I 

[2 



/ 



\ 



¥A 



/ 



»5hooterts score. 

Diagram B. (See Rules 12 and 13.) 



Note.— To get angles for birds thrown from traps 1 and 3, measure 
six yards from trap No. 2 on line to shooter's score, to point marked 
"A"; lines drawn from this point across traps 1 and 3 will give 
proper direction of flight. 



APPENDIX. 



465 






\ 201 Yds / 

\ ! / 

f 

^ • % 
/ • ^ 

/ T \ 

/ ; \ 

I 
I 
I 
1 
I 
t 
It 



>rA 



X 

y \ 

V 



Shooter^ score 



Diagram C. (See Rules 12 and 13.) 



Note.— To get angles for birds thrown from traps 2 and 4, measure 
six yards from trap No. 3 on line to shooter's score, to point marked 
"A" ; lines drawn from this point across traps 2 and 4 will give the 
proper direction of flight. The birds from traps 1 and 5 should cross 
the line of flight of the straightaway bird not more than twenty nor 
less than ten yards from trap No, 3, 



466 



APPENDIX. 






\ 201 Yd9 / 

I 

I 

J 

\ I / 

% 



\ I / 






/! \ 

/ V^ \ 

/ i ^ 
\ / ; \ / 



V » y 

/ V • / ^ 



V \^ 13 ^' V 



>-'A 



JShooUr's icarei 



Diagram D. (See Rules 12 and 13.) 



Note.— To get angles for birds thrown from traps 2 and 4, measure 
six yards from trap No. 3 on line to shooter's score, to point marked 
'A"; lines drawn from this point across traps 2 and 4 will give the 
jmiper direction of flight. The hirds from traps 1 and 5 should cross 
the line of flight of the straightaway hird not more than twenty nor 
less than ten yards from trap No, 3. 



APPENDIX. 467 

Xo. 3 or Xo. 5 on the right, consecutively, accord- 
ing to the number used, as shown in the diagram. 
Rule 13. — ^Adjustixg Traps. Sec. 1. All traps 
must throw the birds a distance not less than 40 
yards nor more than 60 yards, and each trap must 
be tested for this standard distance before the 
shooting begins. If any trap be found too weak to 
throw the required distance, a new trap or spring, 
that will, must be substituted. Sec 2. The lever 
or projecting arm of the trap shall be so adjusted 
tliat the elevation of the bird in its flight at a dis- 
tance of 10 yards from the trap, shall not be more 
than 12 feet nor less than 6 feet, and the angles 
of flight shall be as follows : If three traps are 
used (see Diagrams A and B), Xo. 1 trap shall be 
set to throw a left-quartering bird. X<». 2 trap 
shall be set to throw a straightaway bird. Xo. 3 
trap shall be set to throw a right-quartering bird. 
If live traps are. used (see Diagrams C and D), 
X(». 1 trap shall be set to throw a right-(]Uartering 
bird. Xo. 2 trap shall Ije set to throw a left- 
(piartering bird. Xo. 3 trap shall be set to throw 
a straightaway bird. Xo. 4 trap shall be set to 
throw a right-fjuartering l)ird. Xd. 5 trap shall be 
set to throw a left-(piartering bird. Traps Xos. 1 
and 5 shall br set t(t throw their birds so that 



468 APPENDIX. 

their line of flight shall cross that of the straight- 
away bird at a point not less than 10 yards nor 
more than 20 yards from trap 'No. 3. Sec. 3. 
After the traps are set for these angles, if the bird 
for any reason shall take a different course, it shall 
be considered a fair bird, provided the trap has not 
been changed. 

Rule 14. — Pulling the Traps. Sec. 1. The 
puller shall be placed at least six feet behind the 
shooter, and when the shooter calls "Pull," the 
trap, or traps, shall be instantly sprung. In single 
bird shooting, he shall pull the traps as decided by 
a trap pulling indicator, if one is used. Sec. 2. 
Traps may be pulled in regular order from Nos. 1 
to 3, or 1 to 5, or vice versa, if so decided by the 
management. Sec. 3. If the shooting is from traps 
to be pulled in regular order, the shooter may re- 
fuse a bird from a trap not so pulled ; but if he 
shoots the result shall be scored. Sec. 4- If the 
trap is sprung before, or at any noticeable interval 
after the shooter calls " Pull," he can accept or re- 
fuse the bird ; but if he shoots the result shall be 
scored. Sec. 5. Should any puller not pull in ac- 
cordance with the indicator, he shall be removed, 
and another puller substituted. 

Rule 15. — The Rise. In single bird shooting 



APPENDIX. 469 

the rise shall be 18 yards for 10-bore guns. 16 
yards for 12-bore guns. 14 yards for 14 and 16- 
bore guns. 13 yards for 20-bore guns. In double 
bird shooting the rise shall be 16 yards for 10-bore 
guns. 14 yards for 12-bore guns. 12 yards for 14 
and 16-bore guns. 11 yards for 20-bore guns. 

Rule l6. — Caliber and Weight of Gun. !N^o 
gun of larger caliber than a 10-bore shall be used, 
and the weight of all guns shall be unlimited. 

Rule 17. — Loads. Charge of powder unlimited. 
Charge of shot for 10-bore guns, H ounces. For 
12-bore guns, 1^ ounces. For 14 and 16-bore guns, 1 
ounce. For 20-bore guns, -| of an ounce. American 
Shooting Association shot measure struck off. Any 
shooter using a larger quantity of shot shall forfeit 
his entrance money and rights in the match. If in 
the opinion of the management, with the unani- 
mous consent of the contestants, a shooter has not 
wilfully violated this rule, his entrance money shall 
be returned to him. 

Rule 18. — Loading Guns. In single bird 
shooting, only one barrel shall be loaded at a time, 
and the cartridge shall not be placed in the barrel 
until after the shooter has taken his position at 
the score. In double bird shooting, both barrels 
shall be loaded at the score. Cartridges must 



470 APPENDIX. 

be removed from the gun before leaving the 
score. 

Rule 19. — Position of Gun. Any the shooter 
may adopt. 

Rule 20. — Allowing Another Bird (Known or 
Unknown Angles). Sec. 1. The shooter shall be 
allowed another bird for the following reasons : 
A — For a bird broken by a trap. B — For any 
defect in the gun or the load, causing a miss-fire. 
Sec. 2. When the shooting is at known angles he 
shall have another bird from the same trap, but if 
the shooting is at unknown angles he shall have 
another bird from an unknown trap, to be decided 
by the indicator, except in case it be the last trap, 
when the shooter has a right to know which trap 
is to be sprung ; in this case he shall have another 
bird from same trap. 

Rule 21. — Single Bird Shooting. Each con- 
testant shall shoot at three or more birds before 
leaving the score, when the traps are set in the 
segment of a circle. If two birds are sprung at 
the same time it shall be declared " No bird." 

Rule 22. — Double Bird Shooting. Both traps 
must be pulled simultaneously, and each contestant 
shall shoot at three pairs consecutively, thrown as 
follows : If three traps are used, the first pair shall 



APPENDIX. 471 

be thrown from traps 1 and 2; the second pair 
from 2 and 3, and the third pair from 1 and 3. 
If five traps are used, the first pair shall be thrown 
from traps 2 and 3, the second pair from 3 and 4, 
and the third pair from 2 and 4. If only one bird 
is thrown it shall be declared " No birds." If a 
bird is lost for reasons stated in Eule 20, it shall 
be declared " Xo birds." If one be a fair and the 
other an imperfect bird it shall be declared " No 
birds." If both birds are broken Ijy one barrel it 
shall be declared "No birds." If a shooter hre both 
barrels at one bird intentionally, it shall be scored 
" Lost birds " ; but if the second barrel be dis- 
charged accidentally it shall be "No birds." Sum- 
mary. — A contestant must shoot at two whole birds 
while both are in the air, and break or miss one 
with each barrel to have his score count, and the 
Referee shall be as prompt as possible in calling 
" No birds," and prevent unnecessary shooting when 
a bird is broken by the trap. 

Rule 23. — Rapid Firing System. When the 
traps are set in a straight line and the rapid firing 
system is to be used, there shall be a screen before 
each trap on which shall appear the number of the 
trap, from No. 1 on the left, and each shooter shall 
stand at score opposite the trap from which the 



472 APPENDIX. 

bird is to be thrown for him to shoot at; after he 
has shot at his first bird he shall pass to next 
score to the right, and so continue until he reaches 
the end of score, when he shall return to the 
score opposite No. 1, and continue as before until 
his score is finished. If shooters are annoyed or 
there is delay in shooting by the smoke of previous 
shots, the traps may be pulled in reverse order, 
commencing with the trap on the right. 

Rule 24. — Closing .of Entries to Matches. 
No entry shall be accepted after the fifth man 
from the last, inclusive, fires his first shot, except 
by the unanimous consent of the contestants. 

Rule 25. — Tie Shooting. ^Sec. 1. All ties shall 
be shot off at the original distance, and as soon after 
the match as practicable, at the following number of 
birds : Ties on single birds — In single bird matches 
of 25 birds or less, on 3 traps 3 birds ; 5 traps 5 
birds. In matches of 26 birds to 50 inclusive, on 3 
traps 6 birds; 5 traps 10 birds. In matches of 
over 50, on 3 traps 15 birds; 5 traps 25 birds. 
Ties on double birds — In double bird matches of 
10 pairs or less on 3 traps, 3 pairs; in matches of 
more than 10 pairs, 5 pairs, thrown from traps 1 
and 2. If 5 traps are used, the same number shall 
be thrown, in each case, from traps 2 and 3. 



APPENDIX. 473 

Sec. 2. Ties, if not shot off at the close of any day, 
will be continued the next morning at a specified 
hour. Any contestant not present when called to 
the score after the hour named, or within three 
minutes thereafter, shall forfeit his rights in the 
match. Sec. 3. If in a series of matches the re- 
sult prove a tie, such tie shall be shot off at the 
original number of birds. 

Rule 26. — Challenges. Sec. 1. No challenge 
shall be considered unless the party challenging is 
a contestant, and the challenge must be made be- 
fore the next shooter goes to the score. See. 2. In 
tie shooting no one shall be considered a contestant 
except those in their respective ties. 

Rule 27. — Forbidden Shooting. No shooting 
will be permitted within the inclosure other than 
at the score, and in case there is no inclosure, no 
shooting within 200 yards of the score except by 
those at the score, without consent of the Manage- 
ment. 

Rule 28. — Class Shooting. All shooting shall 
be class shooting, unless otherwise stated. 

Rule 29. — Conduct. No person whose conduct 
is ungentlemanly upon the grounds, or who shall per- 
sistently violate any rule, after his attention has 
been called to the fact, shall be permitted to par- 



474 APPENDIX. 

ticipate in a contest ; and the Referee shall so de- 
cide. The Management giving a tournament under 
the rules of the American Shooting Association, 
may suspend the offender and report the suspension 
to the Association for final action ; and the Associ- 
ation shall have the power to suspend the offender 
for such period of time as the gravity of the offense 
may warrant, and during the period of such suspen- 
sion the individual suspended shall not be allowed 
to participate in any contest held under the man- 
agement of this Association. 

Classification. Sec. 1. Any shooter to become 
eligible to the tournaments given under the rules 
and management of the American Shooting Associa- 
tion must qualify by sending to the headquarters of 
the Association a certificate from the president or 
secretary of a regularly organized gun club, of which 
he is a member, giving to the best of his knowledge 
and belief, what he considers the shooter's average 
on inanimate targets. These certificates will be 
used in making up a proper classification of the 
contestants. Blank forms will be sent to any one 
on application. If the scores made by any shooter 
give sufficient grounds for changing a shooter's clas- 
sification, the Association reserves the right to make 
the change. Sec. 2. The classification of shooters 



APPENDIX. 475 

will be as follows : Class A, to consist of all those 
whose average is 86 and over. Class B, to consist 
of all those whose average is from 70 to 85, inclu- 
sive. Class C, to consist of all those whose average 
is under 70. 

RULES FOR LIVE BIRD SHOOTING. 
SINGLE BIRDS. 

Rule I. — Referee. Sec. 1. A Referee shall be 
appointed, whose decision shall be final in all tour- 
nament or sweepstake shooting. Sec. 2. In indi- 
vidual matches a Referee, Scorer, and Pullers may- 
be agreed upon and named by the contestants. 

. Rule 2. — Appeals. Sec. 1. In all matches, other 
than tournament or sweepstake, appeals from the 
Referee's decision will be decided by the Associa- 
tion's Court of Appeals. Sec. 2. Any contestant 
making an appeal shall notify the Referee of his 
intention immediately, and shall hand such appeal 
to the Referee in writing, within twenty-four hours, 
and shall send a copy of the same to the Associa- 
tion's office in New York city, within ten days. 
The Referee shall forward his copy also, with a 
statement of the time of its receipt, together with 
any explanation he may care to make, within ten 
days. 



476 APPENDIX. 

Rule 3. — Special Duties of Referee. The 
Referee shall see that the traps are properly set at 
the beginning of a match and are kept in order to 
the finish, and that they are kept properly filled. 
He may at any time select one or more cartridges 
from those of a shooter at the score, and must do 
so when challenged by a contestant, and he shall 
publicly test the same for proper loading ; if a 
cartridge is found to be improperly loaded the 
shooter shall suffer penalty as provided for in 
Rule 14. 

Rule 4. — Balk. If any contestant is balked or 
interfered with, or there is other similar reason 
why it should be done, the Referee may allow an- 
other bird. 

Rule 5. — Shooter at the Score. In all con- 
tests t)ie shooter must be at the score within three 
minutes after his name is called to shoot, or he for- 
feits his rights in the match. 

Rule 6. — Scorer. A Scorer shall be appointed 
by the Management, whose score shall be the official 
one. All scoring shall be done with ink or indeli- 
ble pencil. The scoring of a lost bird shall be in- 
dicated by a 0, and of a dead bird by a 1. 

Rule 7. — Announcing the Score. At the close 
of each shooter's score the result must be an- 



APPENDIX. 477 

noimced ; if claimed to be wrong, the error, if any, 
must be corrected at once. 

Rule 8. — Distances. All distances mentioned 
in these rules must be accurate measurement. 

Rule 9. — ^Arrangement of Traps. All matches 
shall be shot from 5 ground traps, placed 5 yards 
apart, in the segment of a circle ; the radius of 
the circle shall be 30 yards from the shooter's 
score. The traps shall be numbered from No. 1 
on the left to No. 5 on the right, consecutively. 
[A ground trap is one that lies flat with the sur- 
face of the ground when open, and gives the bird 
its natural flight in starting.] 

Rule 10. — Boundary. The boundary for both 
single and double bird shooting shall be the segment 
of a 50 yards circle, and a dead line. The circle shall 
be drawn from a point 10 yards beyond the centre 
trap on a line from the shooter's score, and it shall 
terminate where it joins the dead line, which shall be 
drawn at a distance of 30 yards from the centre trap, 
and at right angles with a line drawn from the shoot- 
er's score to the centre trap. (See Diagram E.) 

Rule II. — The Rise. The rise shall be 30 yards 
for 10-bore guns. 28 yards for 12-bore guns. 26 
yards for 14 and 16-bore guns. 25 yards for 20-bore 



47 » APPENDIX. 

Rule 12. — Pulling the Traps. Sec. 1. The puller 
shall be placed at least six feet behind the shooter, 
and a trap-pulling indicator must be used to desig- 
nate which trap shall be pulled. The traps shall be 
pulled evenly and fairly for each contestant, and in- 
stantly after the shooter calls " Pull." All traps 
must be full before the shooter calls " Pull." Sec. 
2. Should the puller not pull in accordance with 
the indicator, he shall be removed and another puller 
substituted. Sec. 3. If more than one bird is liber- 
ated the shooter may call "No bird"; but if he 
shoots the result must be scored. 

Rule 13. — Caliber and Weight of Gun. No 
gun of larger caliber than a 10-bore shall be used, 
and the weight of all guns shall be unlimited. 

Rule 14. — Loads. Charge of powder unlimited. 
Charge of shot for 10-bore guns, l^ ounces. For 
12-bore guns, \\ ounces. For 14 and 16-bore 
guns, 1 ounce. For 20-bore guns, J of an ounce. 
American Shooting Association shot measure struck 
off. Any shooter using a larger quantity of shot 
shall forfeit his entrance money and rights in the 
match. 

Rule 15. — Loading Guns. No guns shall be 
loaded except at the score. Cartridges must be re- 
moved from the m\\\ before leaviu£C the score. 



APPENDIX. 



479 



'o. 



• • 



31^ 



0£AO 



6» 



LINE. 



SHOOTeR3 SCORE. 



Diagram E. See Eules 9 and 10 — Live Bird Shooting. 

(Note.— This should give from centre to boundary, to straight-away 
bird, 60 yards ; to right quarterer, 58 yards ; to bird at right angles, 48 
yards ; to junction of circle and dead line, 42 yards.) 

Rule l6. — Position of Gun. Any the shooter 
may adopt. 

Rule 17.— Failing to Load. If a shooter fails 
to load his gun, another bird shall be allowed, from 
an unknown trap. 



480 APPENDIX. 

Rule l8. — Gun Not Cocked. If a gun is not 

cocked, or the safety not properly adjusted, and the 
bird escapes, it shall be scored a " Lost bird." 

Rule 19. — Miss-fire with the First Barrel. 
If the shooter's gun miss lire with the first barrel, 
and he uses the second barrel and misses, the bird 
must be scored " Lost bird " ; but if killed with 
the second barrel, on the wing, it shall be scored 
"Dead bird." 

Rule 20. — Miss-fire with the Second Barrel. 
If a miss-fire occur with second barrel, the shooter 
shall have another bird, using a full charge of pow- 
der only in the first barrel. He must, however, 
put the gun to his shoulder and discWrge the 
blank cartridge in the direction of the bird, and the 
bird must be on the wing when the first barrel is 
discharged. 

Rule 21. — Birds Killed on the Ground. Sec. 
1. A bird killed on the ground with the first barrel 
is "No bird " ; but it may be killed on the ground 
with the second barrel, if the first is fired while it 
is on the wing. Sec, 2. If a bird is shot at on the 
ground with the first barrel, and the shooter fails to 
kill with the second barrel, it is a " Lost bird " ; if 
killed, " No bird." 

Rule 22. — Birds Refusing to Fly. When a 



APPENDIX. 481 

bird refuses to fly, such artificial means as have 
been provided by the management may be used to 
start it, by direction of the Referee. A bird hit 
with a missile shall be declared " Xo bird." The 
shooter may declare a bird refusing to fly when the 
trap is pulled, " No bird." 

Rule 23. — Leaving the Score. A shooter hav- 
ing fired his first barrel and left the score, cannot 
return to fire his second barrel. 

Rule 24. — Gathering Birds. Sec. 1. A bird to 
be scored must be gathered in bounds, before an- 
other bird is shot at, by a dog or shooter, or the 
shooter may appoint a person for that purpose. 
Three minutes' time will be allowed to gather, but no 
extraneous means shall be used, and no other person 
shall be allowed to assist in gathering. Sec.- 2. If 
the gatherer cannot locate the bird, he may appeal to 
the Referee to locate it for him. Sec. 3. All birds 
challenged must show flesh shot marks, to be scored 
"Dead birds." 

Rule 25. — Out of Bounds. A bird once out of 
bounds must be scored a "Lost bird." 

Rule 26.— Birds Shot at by Another Person. 
If a bird be shot at by another person than the 
shooter at the score, the Referee shall decide whether 
it shall be scored, or another bird allowed. 



482 APPENDIX. 

Rule 27. — Endangering Person or Property. 
If any bird shall fly so that to shoot at it would 
endanger any person or property, it shall not be shot 
at, and the Eeferee shall allow another bird. 

Rule 28. — Ties. Sec. 1. All ties shall be shot 
off at the original distance, and as soon after the 
match as practicable, at the following number of 
birds : In matches of 10 birds or less, at 3 birds. 
In matches of 11 to 25 birds, inclusive, at 5 birds. 
In matches of 26 to 50 birds, inclusive, at 10 birds. 
In matches of 51 to 100 birds, inclusive, at 25 birds. 
The shooting shall continue until each tie is decided; 
provided, that the shooting shall cease at sunset, 
unless the contestants otherwise agree. Sec. 2. Ties 
if not shot off at the close of any day will be con- 
tinued the next morning, at a specified hour. Any 
contestant not present when called to the score, 
after the hour named, or within three minutes there- 
after, shall forfeit his rights in the match. Sec. 3. 
If in a series of matches the result prove a tie, 
such tie shall be shot ofi" at the original number of 
birds. 

Rule 29. — Challenges. Sec. 1. No one but a 
contestant, or his representative, can challenge, and 
the challenge must be made before the next shooter 
goes to the score. Sec. 2. In the shooting, no one 



APPENDIX. 483 

shall be considered a contestant except those in their 
respective ties. 

Rule 30. — Forbidden Shooting. No shooting 
sliall be permitted within the enclosure other than 
at the score, and in case there is no enclosure, no 
shooting within 200 yards of the score, except by 
those at the score, without consent of the Manage- 
ment. 

Rule 31. — Mutilating Birds. If it is proved 
to the Referee that any contestant has wilfully muti- 
lated a bird, or is a party thereto, the Referee shall 
declare all his rights in the match forfeited. 

Rule 32. — Class Shooting. All shooting shall 
be class shooting, unless otherwise stated." 

Rule 33. — Conduct. No person whose conduct 
is ungentlemanly upon the grounds, or who shall 
persistently violate any rule after his attention has 
been called to the fact, shall be permitted to partici- 
pate in a contest ; and the Referee shall so decide. 
The Management giving a tournament under the 
rules of the American Shooting Association may 
suspcTid the offender and report the suspension to 
the Association for final action; and the Associa- 
tion shall have the power to suspend the offender for 
such period of time as the gravity of the offense may 
warrant, and during the period of such suspension 



484 APPENDIX. 

the individual suspended shall not be allowed to 
participate in any contest held under the manage- 
ment of this Association. 

DOUBLE BIRDS. 

Rule I. — The rules for single bird shooting shall 
govern double bird contests, when not conflicting 
with the following : 

Rule 2. — Double Rises. The double rises shall 
be from two traps of any kind, 10 yards apart, 
pulled simultaneously. The rise shall be 26 yards 
for 10-bore guns. 24 yards for 12-bore guns. 22 
yards for 14 and 16-bore guns. 21 yards for 20- 
bore guns. 

Rule 3. — Allowing Another Pair. Both birds 
should be on the wing when shot at. Should only 
one bird fly, the shooter shall have another pair of 
birds if he does not shoot, or, if he does shoot and 
kills the bird on the wing; but if he shoots and 
misses, the bird shall be scored lost, and in such 
event he shall shoot at another pair of birds, with 
a full charge of powder only in one barrel. The 
Referee shall load the gun, not allowing the shooter 
to know which barrel contains the full charge, and 
which contains the powder charge only. 

Rule 4. — Miss-fire with the First Barrel. 



APPENDIX. 485 

If the shooter's gun miss fire with the first barrel, 
he will he entitled to another pair of birds if he 
does not shoot his second barrel ; but if he fires the 
second barrel, the result must be scored, and the 
shooter shall shoot at another pair of birds, with a 
hill charge of powder only, in one barrel, as pro- 
vided for in Rule 3. 

Rule 5. — Miss-fire with the Second Barrel. 
If the shooter's gun miss fire with the second bar- 
rel, the result of the first barrel must be scored, 
and the shooter shall shoot at another pair of birds 
with a full charge of powder only in one barrel, 
as provided for in Rifle 3. 

Rule 6. — Lost Bird. If a shooter fire both 
barrels at one bird intentionally, it shall be scored 
" Lost birds " ; but if the second barrel be dis- 
charged accidentally, it shall be " No birds." 

Rule 7. — No Bird. If both birds are killed 
with one barrel, it shall be declared " No birds," 
and the shooter shall shoot at another pair of birds. 

Rule 8. — Ties. All ties must be decided in shoot- 
ing off as follows : In matches of 5 pairs or less, at 

2 pairs. In matches of 6 to 10 pairs, inclusive, at 

3 pairs. In matches of 11 to 20 pairs, inclusive, at 
6 pairs. In matches of 21 to 50 pairs, inclusive, at 
10 pairs. 



486 



APPENDIX. 



IV.— KEYSTONE RULES. 

Rule A. — Amateur Rule. Three or more traps 
may be used, and each sliooter knows the trap to 
be sprung and the angle of flight. The angle shall 
be as follows : In using three traps No. 1 shall be 
set to throw a left quartering bird ; No. 2 shall be 
set to throw a straightaway bird ; No. 3 shall 
be set to throw a right quartering bird. In using 



SCREEN 



SCORE 





12 3 4 5 

five traps, No. 1 shall be set to -throw a right quar- 
tering bird ; No. 2 shall be set to throw a left 
quartering bird ; No. 3 shall be set to throw a 
straightaway bird ; No. 4 shall be set to throw a 
right quartering bird ; No. 5 shall be set to throw 
a left quartering bird. 

Rule B, — Semi-Professional Rule. Known 
traps —unknown angles. In our semi-professional 
rules three or five traps may be used. Each sliooter 
knows tlie trap to be spriiiin', Iml ilocs not, know 



APPENDIX. 



487 



the angle of flight. The trappers are compelled to 
change the angle every time their trap is sprung. 
Each shooter is to get a right quartering bird, left 
quartering bird, or a straightaway. 

Rule C. — Expert or Professional Rule. Un- 
known traps— unknown angles. Six traps must be 
used, and seven men constitute a squad. The traps 
must be pulled according to indicator. No. 1 must 



SCREEN 





SCORE -^ 



I 

throw a right quartering bird ; Xo. 2 a left quarter- 
ing bird ; Xo. 3 a straightaway ; Xo. 4 a right 
quartering bird ; Xo. 5 a left quartering bird ; Xo. 
6 a straightaway. Shooters' positions are the same 
as in rules " A " and " B," and they must rotate 
the same. One, two or three are to get either Xos. 
1,2 or 3 traps ; four, five and six are to get either 
Xos. 4, 5 or 6 traps. 

Rule I. — A Referee shall bo appointed to judge 
all matches, and his decisions shall be final. 



488 APPENDIX. 

Rule 2. — Special Duties of the Referee. The 
Referee shall see that the traps are properly set to 
throw the proper angles at the beginning of a 
match, and that they are kept in order to the 
finish. 

Rule 3. — The Referee shall announce the score 
in a loud voice. 

Rule 4. — Keeping the Score. There shall be 
appointed a Scorer, and the score kept by him shall 
be official. The scoring: of a dead l)ird by a " 1." 
The scoring of a lost bird by an "0." 

Rule 5. — The traps must be well screened ; there 
must be a number put on the screen opposite each 
trap, and the shooter must stand opposite the num- 
ber. 

Rule 6. — Traps. All matches shall he shot 
from either three or more traps. Sliooting from 
three traps, four shooters shall step to Uw score, 
one facing each trap, the fourth man to step to 
No. 1 trap after the first man shoots ; the first man 
to step to No. 2 trap after the second man has 
shot, etc., until all have shot, when the last goes 
to No. 1 trap and the rotation continues. Starting 
at No. 1, shooting shall continue in rotation down 
the line. In five trap shooting, six shooters shall 
step to the score, one facing each trap, the sixth 



APPENDIX. • 489 

shooter to stand behind Xo. 1 nntil Xo. 1 shoots, 
then step in and pass down the line, the same as 
in three trap shooting. In our professional rule, 
six traps must be used. Six shooters face the 
traps, the seventh shooter stands behind Xo. 1, the 
same as in three and five trap shooting, and rotate 
the same. Shooters shall load their guns Avhile 
walking from trap to trap, so that the shooting 
shall be continuous. A shooter shall never shoot 
until the shooter to the left has shot. Any one 
shooting out of turn must shoot at another 
bird. 

Rule 7. — Adjusting the Traps. The traps shall 
be so adjusted that the elevation of the birci in its 
flight at a distance of ten yards from the trap 
shall not be more than ten feet or less than six 
feet. 

Rule 8.— Pulling Traps. The trap puller shall 
be at least six feet behind the shooter, and when 
the shooter calls pull, the trap or traps shall be 
instantly sprung. He should pull regularly for all 
shooters. If the bird is sprung before or at any 
noticeable interval after the shooter calls pull, the 
shooter can accept the bird or not, but if he shoots 
the result shall be scored. 

Rule 9. — Gun. Xo gun of larger calibre than 



490 APPENDIX. 

10-l)ore shall be used, and the charge of shot shall 
not exceed 1^ ounces. 

Rule 10. — Loading Guns. In single bird 
shooting only one barrel shall be loaded at a time, 
and the cartridge shall not be placed in the barrel 
until after the shooter has taken his position at 
the score. In double bird shooting, both barrels 
to be loaded at the score. 

Rule II. — Position of Gun. The gun may be 
sighted, but 'when ready to shoot the butt of the 
gun must be held away from the shoulder until the 
shooter calls "Pull." 

Rule 12. — Broken Birds. A bird to be scored 
broken must have a perceptible piece broken from 
it while in the air. If a bird bo brok<Mi ])y the 
trap the shooter may claim another bird, but if he 
shoots at a piece the result must be scored. 

Rule 13. — Single Bird Shooting. Each con- 
testant shall shoot at the number of birds decided on 
by the Referee before leaving the score. If two 
birds are sprung at the same time, it shall l>e optional 
with the shooter to accept or not. If he ucc(q)ts 
either bird the result shall ))e scored. 

Rule 14. — Double Bird Shooting. Both traps 
must be pulled simultaneously, and each contestant 
shall shoot at three pairs consecutively, thrown as 



APPENDIX. 491 

follows : three shooters face the traps. The foiiith 
shooter standing behind the one shooting at Xo. 1 
and No. 2 traps. The first shooter stands facing the 
trap No. 2, and shoots at targets thrown from traps 
No. 1 and 2, No. 1 a left qiiarterer and No. 2 a 
straightaway. The second sliooter stands facing trap 
No. 4, and shoots at targets thrown from trajjs No. 
3 and 4 ; No. 3 a left quarterer and No. 4 a straight- 
away, and so on down the line, the extra shooter 
stepping to score facing No. 2 trap as soon as the 
first shooter shoots. The rotation to continue the 
same as in shooting at singles. If both barrels are 
tired at one bird, both birds shall be scored lost. 

Rule 15. — Any one shooting on the Club or 
Tournament ground exce[)t in the regular events at 
the score, without permission from either the Referee 
or Captain, is subject to a fine of one dollar for 
each and every shot. 

Rule 16. — Tie Shooting. All ties shall be shot 
off at 20 yards rise for 10-gauge guns and 18 yards 
rise for 12-gauge guns on singles, and 18 yards for 
10-gauge guns and 16 yards for 12-gauge guns on 
'doubles, and at the number of birds agreed on by 
contestants. If, however, the contestants cannot 
agree promptly, the Referee shall fix the numl)er, 
and his decision shall be final. The rules pre- 



492 APPENDIX. 

scribed for single and double bird shooting shall 
prevail in tie shooting. 

Rule 17. — In case of a tie, any one in the tie 
can ask for a division, any time when his interest 
in the purse amounts to as much as his entrance 
money and the balance can shoot out after the in- 
terest of those asking for a division have been 
deducted from the purse. 

Rule 18. — Challenge. No challenge shall be 
considered unless tlie parties challenging are con- 
testants, and the cliallenge of a load must be 
accompanied by n deposit in the Referee's hands of 
$1. If the load shall be found to exceed the 
allowed charge, the money sliall be returned to the 
challenging party, and the challenged party debarred 
from participating in any money or prizes being con- 
tested for in that shoot. If said charge shall ]3e 
found not to exceed the allowed charge, the money 
paid into the hands of the Referee shall go to the 
Association or Club. 

Rule 19. — Distance in single bird shooting shall 
be 18 yards for 10-bore guns, 16 yards for 12-bore 
guns Aveighing 8 lbs. or less, and 15 yards for all 
smaller bores weicjhing 7 lbs. or less. In double 
bird shooting the rise shall be 16 yards for 10-bore; 
14 yards for 12-bore guns weighing 8 lbs. or less, 



APPENDIX. 493 

and 13 yards for all smaller bores weighing 7 lbs. 
or less. 

Rule 20. — There shall be a number on the score 
opposite each trap, and a line drawn on the score 
each side of the number ; H feet from the number, 
and the shooter shooting at that trap shall stand be- 
tween these lines. If this rule is violated the result 
is "No bird," and the shooter is compelled to shoot 
again. 

Rule 21. — Handicaps. Every time a contestant 
wins a first money he shall be handicapped two 
yards and remain so as long as he shoots in a tie 
for any money. A contestant cannot be handi- 
capped more than four yards, and when shot out 
of all moneys, he can enter the next contest with- 
out a handicap. 

Rule 22. — If the shooter fails to shoot after call- 
ing pull, the target shall be scored lost ; unless the 
target fails to fly at the proper time, the gun shall 
be found at fault, or the shell properly loaded fails 
to go off when the primer is hit by the firing pin. 
The gun is at fault when the firing pin is broken, 
when a hammerless gun is loaded and fails to cock, 
and in many other instances Avhich can be easily 
decided on examination by the Referee. 

[We suggest to shooters in cases where the gun is 



494 APPENDIX. 

supix>sed to be properly loaded and fails to go, do 
not break the gun until after examined by the 
Referee, for if the gun is broken in many instances 
the Referee cannot allow another shot, ' where he 
could if the conditions were left unchanged.] 

New Rule 4. — Just as this work is going to 
press Mr. H. A. Penrose, manager of the Keystone 
Mfg. Co., sends me the new Keystone Rule 4 : 
There shall be five traps set in a straight line, 5 
yards apart, and three traps 60 yards, measured 
from No. 3 trap. In measuring from there that 
will bring the outside traps in a circle. Traps to 
be numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for inside and 6, 7 
and 8 for outside traps. Outside traps to throw a 
straight incomer, a right quartering incomer and a 
left quartering incomer. Inside traps, No. 1 a right 
quarterer, No. 2 a left quarterer, No. 3 a straight- 
away, No. 4 a right quarterer, No. 5 a left quarterer. 
Traps must be pulled by indicator. If gun fails to 
go off unless caused by a defective primer, it is a 
lost bird. If bird breaks in trap or gun fails to go 
on account of bad primer, the indicator must be 
turned in such cases each time. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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